Angry students demand value for fee money Universities face charters of 'consumer' rights Anushka Asthana, education correspondent Sunday November 19, 2006 Observer Undergraduates are to draw up charters detailing what they expect from universities in return for their fees - including having more time with lecturers. The move follows a National Union of Students' poll of more than 3,000 students at 40 universities which reveals anger among first-years that they receive the same education as their older peers, but pay far more. In return for their fees of up to £3,000 a year, they want guarantees that they will be well taught. The 'student rights charters' would act like a warranty. 'Do vice-chancellors seriously think that in a year that has seen fees increase they can cut back on contact time, provision and resources?' asked NUS vice-president Wes Streeting. 'It is unfortunate that students feel like customers, but it is an inevitable result of the system pushing the costs of university on to them.' The NUS will urge individual student unions to negotiate the agreements with their universities. First to be targeted will be those planning to ask undergraduates to sign contracts promising to turn up for lectures. Now it is their turn to deliver, the students will argue. Streeting and Gemma Tumelty, the NUS president, travelled the country talking to undergraduates and found that the newest recruits were more determined than ever to get their money's worth. 'There is an incredible feeling of injustice among first-years, who are getting exactly the same services as those in the second and third years, but paying more,' said Streeting. 'Their expectations are higher.' History undergraduates at Bristol University complained last week they had only two hours of lectures a week and that this was not value for money. Students at Sussex are running a campaign called Sort Us Out, calling for a better university life. The campaign website tells students: 'You are paying for your education; you've taken the time and the loans for what you perceived was going to be a quality student experience. Are you being given what you were promised? Are you satisfied with your education at Sussex?' This attitude is spreading. 'Once fees were introduced, higher education became a marketplace and it was inevitable that students' behaviour was going to change in line with their new role as paying customers,' said Sarah Teather, the Liberal Democrats' education spokeswoman. 'With the prospect of tens of thousands of pounds of debt on graduation, it's only rational that students demand value for money.' Some universities are already paying attention The 1994 Group, a set of universities that includes Sussex, Durham, Exeter and the University of London, has launched Enhancing the Student Experience, a project which aims to find out how to improve students' academic and social lives. 'We are looking at how we engage with our consumers to see what they want,' said Paul Marshall, the group's executive director . 'What do we need to do to be top of the game?' But some senior figures at universities warn that students are expecting too much. One source said that fees added little to universities' incomes and there was nowhere near enough money to be able to offer the one-to-one tuition some were demanding. Sally Hunt, joint general secretary of the University and College Union, said that resources were not keeping up with the increase in student numbers. In the past two decades the ratio of staff to students has risen from nine to one to 18 to one. Other lecturers have expressed concerns that students would eventually think they could buy degrees. Baroness Ruth Deech, the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, who deals with student complaints, said students had adopted an increasingly confrontational approach since fees were introduced. Going to university, she added, was not like buying a package holiday. 'It is more like joining a gym,' she said. 'You pay money and they provide the facilities and trainers. Obviously they have to meet the quality promised, but after that it's up to you. It is a participative process.' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006.