TOP OF THE CLASS
course. Given the problems of graduate unem- ployment, some now question the value. And how sustainable is the Scottish government’s commitment to providing ‘free’ tuition, not only to Scottish students but to applicants from the rest of the EU (excluding, somewhat perversely, those from other parts of the UK)? In the great cascade of academic bouquets, all
is not totally roses. Closer inspection of the meth- odology of QS and other systems reveals why Edinburgh still falls behind other equally prestig- ious universities. Its reputation amongst academics and employers may boost the overall score, but it conceals problems with student satisfaction. Edinburgh scores lower for its student-to-staff
ratio than all except one of the top 30 QS rank- ings. A league table by the Guardian newspaper also rates institutions according to results of the National Student Survey which measures quality of teaching, assessment, feedback and overall satisfaction. When these student satisfaction ratings are included in an overall score, Edin- burgh falls to 19th in the UK, never mind the world. Heriot-Watt University ranked one place higher than Edinburgh in the paper’s University Guide 2014. The results echoed similar findings in a Sunday Times survey last year. Now the student survey itself is open to crit-
icism. It is filled out by final year undergraduate students, whose subjective experiences of their time at university may not be the most reliable indicator of quality. And university lecturers are known to be dismissive of such surveys, saying
that students do not take them seriously and allow their answers to be influenced by such factors as the lecturer’s hairstyle and taste in clothes. However, there is a serious issue here. Greater
attention seems to be paid to research work at Edinburgh University – research grant awards are set to bring in £300 million this year – than the quality of lecturing and the transmission of intellectual knowledge. Yet if Cambridge is able to be both the
highest ranked UK institution in the QS rank- ings while also coming top of the Guardian league table on student satisfaction, could not Edinburgh aspire to the same? As for the ability of the Scottish government
to keep funding tuition fees, there are ominous creaks in the system, even before any allowance is made for the consequences of a ‘yes’ vote in next year’s independence referendum. The administration’s draft budget in Septem-
ber revealed a continued squeeze on student higher education funding. Student support and tuition fee payments are currently costing just over £300 million a year, most of this on tuition fee payments. The figure is set to rise by only 1.2 per cent in cash terms and is then frozen in 2015-16. The table also shows the figure for 2013-14 is already well below that for last year, explained by the fall in the value and availability of student grants in Scotland from this autumn. And independence consequentials would bring further costs. Economics Professor David
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