The dilemma of the public university

mdglick — Sun, 12 Feb 2006 21:43:00 -0600

How much is enough.

Each year state universities appeal to the state legislatures for increased investment from the state. Often the response is "when will the universities be satisfied?" Universities correctly can demonstrate that with more investment they could produce higher quality results; and it will always be true. The question to be asked is what is the point of diminishing returns. In the for-profit marketplace, the "bottom line" is the bottom line, so there are inherent constraints. When the cost of improved quality of widgets is such that the required selling price causes demand to drop and net revenue to decrease, the for-profit enterprise makes alternative investments. We would argue that any increase in quality of education has a positive effect but the impact of this improvement must be weighed against other public sector investments.

Since the "bottom line" for universities is less tangible, it is more difficult to determine how much investment is enough.

Perhaps folks can suggest appropriate metrics that would help universities answer that question.

The UK's Student Survey: Perils of Student Feedback

catherine — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 05:44:50 -0500

Matt P. recently posted on the issue of student feedback ratings in UK higher education, and posted a link to coverage by the Guardian newspaper. Looking at the survey results, I'm left with many questions, and hope to continue this discussion.

My first comment is that it is crucial to note that no Scottish universities participated in the survey. The survey therefore is not UK-wide and it misses out some of the country's leading institutions, that just happen to be located north of the English border. Another major gap comes from the absence of the universities of Warwick, Oxford and Cambridge.

These latter three are among Britain's most prestigious and successful (they are certainly "popular" with students, if you take a glance at admissions statistics), yet they did not participate in the survey. And this decision not to participate came not from the institutional administration but from the students themselves. At Cambridge, the student union campaigned against participation, largely on the grounds that the survey methods employed were highly invasive (including repeated unsolicited emails and personal telephone calls, including calls to mobiles).

This is a very important issue. Students are increasingly surveyed and monitored constantly, from the moment they send for an college information pack right through to their post-graduation careers. Students are aware of this. They are increasingly concerned about data protection and the collection and use, or misuse, of personal information.

Any social scientist will tell you that data collection over the past 20 years has become increasingly difficult. Whereas researchers could once rely on survey response rates of 80% as a matter of course, today it has declined to around 10-15%. Survey fatigue has to account for part of this. DP / privacy concerns account for the rest. If HE institutions care about listening to students, if they are concerned to hear and respond to their views and experiences, then they will increasingly face an uphill battle.

But back to the student popularity index. When comparing the popularity ratings of different UK institutions, it's important to be aware that this is a game of apples and oranges. The index doesn't allow you to compare the "performance" of those institutions in any more direct sense. So the student popularity index (like most ratings indexes) in no sense gives the "complete picture" of institutional performance, and it has the potential to be highly misleading if used in isolation.

Comparing the excellent results of the Open University to the poor results of, say, an individual institution within the University of the Arts in London (like Central Saint Martin's), and deciding that the OU must therefore be "better", would be a bit like trying to compare UCLA to the California Institute of the Arts. Evidently, the institutions differ radically in size, status, mission, audience, etc. Student might "enjoy" being at certain institutions more. But what is the relationship between that perception of enjoyment and, say, his or her career prospects on graduation?

The index gives no insight into this; all it appears to do is to provide a certain measure whereby an institution can take some sort of internal measurement of its success, nebulously defined. If it's positive, the statistic will become a PR weapon. If it's negative, the institution will take pains to cover it up.

How students, and potential applicants, will use this index is another matter altogether. Short answer: we don't know.

Thanks to Matt for flagging this one up.

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The dilemma of the public university

The UK's Student Survey: Perils of Student Feedback