Has UK university life changed much in the last 20 years?

[moctodtensmum]

When I went to uni to do a BA I had five contact hours a week. The work was light and I was invisible to tutors. I doubt my personal tutor could have picked me out of a line-up despite the fact I eventually came away with a 1st. Life revolved around getting drunk and hanging about with mates. Everything was quite grungy and the university felt underfunded and the students uncared for.

I spent my third year at a US university and it was so very different. Many hours of tutor contact each week, lots of connection with tutors, student life was so much more than getting drunk: it was about sport, community work, societies and studying as well as partying.

All this makes me think I should be saving for my kids to go to university in the US. But maybe UK universities have changed. What is uni life like now?

[DreamingofSunshine]

@moctodtensmum I think I did the same degree as you- low contact hours and did my third year in the States. Its different now but my US uni mates generally had to take out enormous loans and/or work to support themselves which was very different to the people in my UK uni. I think if you are taking on a huge debt you're likely to be much more conscientious about working hard.

Also, since the drinking age is higher, it's harder for students to party all the time - obviously people did drink underage but it's a different culture. Smoking weed was far more prevalent there than at my UK uni.

I agree with you that the UK education system encourages us to specialise too early, but there was a noticeable difference between myself and the other students in my classes in the US, simply because I'd been focusing on my subject from the age of 16.

[MyShinyWhiteTeeth]

I think the vast differences in contact hours between arts students and science students is now much reduced. More students now seem to have part time jobs whereas previously it seemed to be only those on low contact hours having the time to work paid jobs. Students seem more motivated to study hard and have more concrete career paths.

Students expect a higher standard of accommodation. They complain about sub standard lecturers and labs lacking appropriate equipment. A lot of students seem unadventurous. They've come to learn and that's that. Previously University seemed to be a place to experiment with your look and relationships. That seems to have been done earlier for many students.

[BubblesBuddy]

I think what you do at university, above and beyond studying, depends on the student. My DD1 was President of a Society, organised a ball, sang in choirs and volunteered/worked over the holidays. She had a lot to put on her cv. She also enjoyed herself socially. Others just sat around and had limited skills upon leaving university. Even a first doesn’t cover up inactivity. (Which in DDs subject at a very good university certainly wasn’t 30% of students).

There is so much on offer though and DDs best friends were all active at university. They didn’t struggle to get very good jobs and many were arts students. They demonstrated their worth by far more than studying. Their cvs were far broader than that. If you can afford USA great but it’s multiples of the cost here so is it worth it? Only if you get a needs blind scholarship,
I think, or it will cost the price of a house!

[ragged]

Bloody hell. My "contact" hours were 14-18/week then. Would be the same if I had done English/history or sciences/engineering. English system does sound awfully low!!

[SaskiaRembrandt]

ragged, I can only speak about English and History, but contact hours are around 12 per week in the first year tapering down to around 6 in the 3rd, but it is expected (and necessary) to spend at least 3 hours studying independently for every 1 spent in seminars and lectures. The reading lists are huge, plus there are regular and frequent assessments of varying sorts. I know some people think the hours are low, but at this level students are considered (and expected) to be capable of studying independently with the supervision of their tutors. To stay on track you do need to exercise some self-discipline. Even the 'long holidays' are really time to do independent work - I'm off until the end of January, but in that time I've got to complete three assessments and start writing my dissertation.

As far as I know science and engineering have more contact hours because the subjects involve practical study - eg: lab time - which wouldn't be possible as independent study.

[chatongris]

I'm genuinely amazed at the low number of contact hours.

I went to uni in the U.K. but my kids have been raised abroad in a country where the university system is widely criticised (France). Many expats send their kids back to the U.K. for university.

My DD is at university in Paris and she has 26 contact hours a week!

[smemorata]

That seems very low. I had around 12 for a double languages degree which was about right as there was so much to learn and read - started one language from scratch.

[chatongris]

How can you learn a foreign language with 6 contact hours per language per week?!

My DD is doing a double degree course (history + a MFL) and she has 14 contact hours for the language - would be 18 hours for student doing just the MFL.

[sashh]

I've studied mainly part time for a number of years starting in 1998 at age 32.

A lot depends on the uni, the course and the students. If you are learning a language or undertaking lab work you need more contact hours. If you are reading literature, you will be reading, a lot.

Some students go to uni to party, some to study and most for a mix.

There are a few major differences between the US and UK, one is that virtually every student in the UK us old enough to drink.

In the UK you are expected to have A Levels before uni, you can enter a US uni with 5 GCSEs as that is considered an equivalent to as US HSD.

Yes US college education is broader, and it is compulsorily broad, so you have to take certain classes often a science, a language a humanity regardless of what you want to study. This means if you know you want to be a Dr or a lawyer you have to do 4 years college followed by 3-4 years post grad, that's a lot of fees.

Newer universities in the UK make it easier to swap subjects and although you sign up for a particular degree you can start by taking 2 or 3 subjects.

Some UK unis are now offering 'liberal arts' courses.

There are a lot of sports scholarships in the US and uni sport is on a different scale.

[bigTillyMint]

I went to a Poly in the 80s and my DDs (RG uni) is quite similar except that we had pretty much full-time contact hours whereas she got 8 p.w in 1st and 2nd year and she studies harder than I did . I dont remember any (or needIng any TBF) pastoral care and my Dis tutor was the only one who hot to know me at all in my final year which is the same for DD.We both partied hard, but also volunteered and had jobs.

DS has just started at a collegiate uni and it sounds quite different - much more sport and competitive drinking orientated, but also catered and lots of college events put on for the students - but he only has 8 or so contact hours too.

It is not "good value" to do a Humanities degree and you need to be very self- motivated and an independent learner to do all the reading and essay writing.

[cobwebsoncornices]

We have a couple of sandwich students doing their year in industry where I work and the thing which surprises me when I chat to them is how isolating it is now. When I was at Uni, there was a TV in the common room and that was about it. So you either did something else or you went and fought over the controls but then went on for a drink with a bunch of people you'd bumped into. If you wanted to go to listen to a lecture, you had to physically go there or borrow a friend's notes afterwards & you had to go to the library to access some of the books you needed, all of which involved getting out of your room and seeing people.
From their tales, students spend a lot more time by themselves in their room as they can watch lectures online, do most research online and watch TV/game/faff on the internet in their rooms. And then you can FaceTime rather than pop into someone's room for a chat,
I thought it sounded like it could be a much more lonely place and that I sound like my grandmother harking on about how we made our own fun in my day

[Dolorabelle]

I’m a lecturer on a course with a middling amount of contact hours. Max 27 hours a week, often more like 18

Ditto - and you'd be surprised how many of those hours they try to skip! We have to be on their case from the start about attendance, participation, and contribution. Then they complain about lack of care ...

[BubblesBuddy]

Many of the top universities expect independent reading and learning. Starting a language from scratch at schools doesn’t get taught for more than 5 hours a week. If you choose MFL at university, including ab initio, you have to work and learn independently. You won’t get your hand held. It’s not school. Most students realise this and do what’s required. No one chooses an ab initio language without talent in language acquisition plus there’s the semester or year abroad that’s a key element of the course.

In addition independent learning shows you are motivated and have a modicum of talent. Getting through the work in the time required, being motivated, working independently and engaging without constant nagging are all attributes employers like. Being taught for hours and hours a week on a humanities degree simply suggests immature students and ones with poorer study skills and ability. Often less prestigious universities teach more because they have to. Students are less well qualified and less able to research and work independently without guidance.

The degees at our top universities are great value for money and students can have a varied and tailored experience and prepare for work at the same time. It’s way cheaper than the USA and many courses can be joint honours and have a broad range of options. Just choose wisely!

[BubblesBuddy]

Dolorabelle: not Oxbridge or UCL or similar I assume. This is the difference between students isn’t it? It begs the question as to why these students are on the course and you are obviously hand holding and cajoling them? Why?

[moctodtensmum]

Wow - it sounds so bleak. The idea of an 18 year old sitting in their uni bedroom watching lectures remotely, watching tv alone, having few contact hours and even fewer of physical contact and then FaceTiming friends. I feel sad for my kids if that is what awaits them.

[Parsley65]

I didn't go to uni, but my DS is in his second year and his experience is nothing like the one cobweb describes. Yes, you can stay in your room and watch lectures, but most uni's make a big effort to get students involved right from the start. There is so much variety. It's what you make of it, like a lot of things in life...
My DS spends a lot of time at other students houses, just hanging out and he also works very hard (engineering.)
He is very happy with his work/life balance and absolutely loves being a student in the UK.

[SaskiaRembrandt]

Yes, that's right. All students live in miserable isolation. Seminar rooms are empty. University bars have closed. Societies are no more. And given the enormous generosity of the student loan system, not a single student has to leave home to go to work. You've summed it up perfectly, OP.

[VivaLeBeaver]

Well 20 years ago when I did my first degree I don’t think I went to a single lecture. You couldn’t watch them online but the lecture notes were put in the library. I could read through them in under the hour which the lecture took. So I suppose all that’s changed is the format.

I still went to seminars, still socialised away from the course, joining clubs, etc.

The course I teach now we don’t film lectures. Students have to attend and 100% attendance rate is expected. If they miss a lecture they have to demonstrate that they’ve made the time up, so I expect them to hand in a piece of work on the subject of the lecture which demonstrates they’ve spent the same amount of time researching the subject as the lecture would have taken. If the work isn’t good enough I send it back and tell them to redo it. And they can only do that for a small percentage of lectures. If they miss too many they’re off the course.

It will depend on the course and the university. For some not attending the lectures is perfectly acceptable.

[titchy]

The idea of an 18 year old sitting in their uni bedroom watching lectures remotely, watching tv alone, having few contact hours and even fewer of physical contact and then FaceTiming friends. I feel sad for my kids if that is what awaits them.

Is that really all you've taken from this thread?

[MarchingFrogs]

My DD is at university in Paris and she has 26 contact hours a week!

@chatongris, is marking and inwardly digesting, as they say, the content of the face to face teaching the bulk of the learning required, or are students still expected to more than match the contact hours with independent study, as they are here?

[Ludways]

I went to a US university for the full 4 years, it was a great experience and what you say about it having more than just partying is true, I was in a sports team on scholarship, so treated very seriously and very hard work, however it was still party centric and I was out most nights drinking. It just ran alongside everything else.

My dd is at university in the UK at the moment and she works very hard, she has a job too and she parties less than I did. She lives off campus so she doesn't have that impromptu party vibe. She is in to music so she extra curricular activities which support that. I'm happy with what she is doing there and don't see she's having less than I did.

[Ludways]

Oh yes, my dd has 15 contract hours a week, which is roughly the same as I did in the US. It depended very much on what classes I'd signed up to. I did get 3 credits one semester for watching a film every Thursday night, my dd wouldn't get away with that.

[Inanothertime]

Art degree : 9.00am - 4pm Monday to Friday. It was full time. We started in September and finished at the end of July. Holidays were similar to school holidays.

I envied my friends with long breaks, very few lectures. Our lives were incompatible.

[Northernsoullover]

I go to a new university (former HE college) and I have around 25 contact hours per week. My degree is in a shortage profession and I'm not sure if its offered in RG universities.
The point I'm making is that there are fairly useless degrees offered by both RG and non RG universities. You need to research the industry they want to go into and find out the best courses for that industry.

[ginyogarepeat]

I work in a RG university that I attended as a UG student myself 20 years ago. Things have changed immeasurably - fantastic pastoral support that was largely non-existent 20 years ago, definitely more contact hours, a lot more emphasis on career development and other softer skills.

Probably one of the most significant changes has been the investment in improving facilities - everything from libraries, student accommodation, students union, has been replaced and upgraded to a much higher standard. Largely because this is what's required to attract international students!