Why the university system is backwards

I would like to start this post off by saying I actually really love my uni, and have really enjoyed the past three years here. I am not trying to slate the University of Southampton and I am proud to be a part of it. BUT there are major issues with the way that the university system works overall. Often these are to the detriment of their students and in my opinion that has serious repercussions for society.

I believe the problem lies in the backwards approach that universities take and this particularly affects Russel Group Universities. They focus on bringing in people to teach who are leaders in their field and then use this to draw in students. How many of you have seen on a university website about the 'ground breaking research being done' or this lecturer has just been awarded some prize for being the biggest smarty pants? If your uni is anything like mine (or the numerous others that I have looked at) then I would bet its quite often. After all this is the whole idea on which Russel Group Universities (including the University of Southampton) are based.

Now this seems like a good idea, because you want the next generation to be trained by the best people in their field. As a result, people often choose universities based on how good their research is in their particular area of study. I myself am among those people. The Ocean and Earth Science department at the University of Southampton is considered to be one of the best in the world and that certainly made me want to apply. I wanted to be able to say I had graduated with my geology degree from Southampton and for people to think 'Wow, she must have a good degree then'. The leading research they do creates respect for the institution.

In order for Southampton to maintain its reputation it must employ the top researchers for a particular subject and they attract these people to their uni by having a research based ethos. The idea being: 'Come to our uni and teach our students but you get to carry on your research using our incredible facilities'. Now by this point you are probably thinking: isn't the whole point of a university is to do research? That is where I would argue you are wrong.

To me, it feels like my university (and many others) have forgotten they are an institution of learning primarily as they are too focused on their research. Being taught by the top people within their profession sounds great, but these people are academics and often do not have the people skills that are needed to be a good teacher. Now I appreciate that you need to be at least a bit of an expert to teach at university level but it often feels like my uni gives no thought as to whether or not these people have the ABILITY to teach, not just the knowledge.

The other problem is lecturing is not most member of staffs priority. Their research comes first and their teaching second, maybe even lower depending on what other responsibilities they have. This is something that I feel particularly affects Ocean and Earth Science. Within the National Oceanography Centre where OES is based there are people who are paid just to do research and people who research as well as lecture. This means that in order to keep up with their colleagues lecturers have to do a lot of extra work. If they cannot stay at the fore front of science our university will not be interested in employing them anymore (not any other uni). Its no wonder then that as a student it can feel like a lot of lecturers can't be bothered or don't really care.

This I think is the fundamental problem: that universities do not consider being a good teacher to be important. As an undergrad who is paying NINE THOUSAND POUNDS A YEAR for the privilege to be here I would say this is not acceptable. The university system is providing a service for me, but I cannot afford to simply take my custom elsewhere as I have invested too much money in it. Also, the fact is that society says I need a degree. If I want to get a job and earn myself enough money to enjoy my life then I need that precious piece of paper. There is no alternative for getting it other than going through the university system. So I am trapped like millions of others by this situation and I wish I had the power to change it.

I am not saying that university should be exactly like schools but I do think that a lecturer should be accountable for our education in the same way that teachers are for their pupils. If all of a teachers class fails an exam, then questions are raised. It does not appear to be that way for lecturers in my experience.

Now there are some genuinely very talented lecturers at my uni who are passionate about their teaching. One of them is so good that he was the runner up for the best lecturer out of the entire university. But even for them it must play second fiddle to their research because their very job depends on it.

I would love to see universities move towards employing lecturer who actually WANT to teach and who are actually good at it. After all, the people they are teaching could one day go on to be the world renowned expert. But they will never reach such lofty heights if they do not receive the correct support during their undergrad degree.

So in conclusion universities need to stop putting the cart before the horse and focus more on teaching their students actual stuff and less on how many papers they published this year. Otherwise their might not be anyone to teach it in the future. If someone could just grant me some super powers and I'll fix all this in a jiffy.

Rant over.