According to a new report by the government’s spending watchdog, only a third of university students believe their degree courses offer value for money.
The number of students satisfied with their courses has fallen significantly from half in 2012, indicating that students, who undertake huge loans, are widely failed by higher educational institutions.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has suggested that the Department of Education (DfE) should help vulnerable students make better choices about courses they take.
“The fact is that young people are taking out substantial loans for courses, they receive little effective help and advice in return, […] DfE has to provide more aggressive oversight to ensure value for money,” the head of NAO, Amyas Morse, said.
“Personally speaking, I don’t feel the educational quality here is proportional to the amount I have owing from Student Finance”
Labour MP Meg Hillier, who chairs the parliament’s public accounts committee, criticised the government:
“The government is failing to give suggestions to students when making one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives. It makes them hit by great debts, moreover, the majority doubt their degree is worth to be paid for.”
“If universities were banks, they would be investigated for mis-selling”
An undergraduate student told Impact:
“Personally speaking, I don’t feel the educational quality here is proportional to the amount I have owing from Student Finance.” The student added: “Not all of my lectures are recorded, this does not match what university promised us at the beginning. We should be supported more.”
“If universities were banks, they would be investigated for mis-selling,” suggested Amyas Morse.
Junzhi Yan
Featured image courtesy of ‘Tony Hisgett’ via Flickr. License here.
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