1. Dr Louise Bunce FHEA Senior Lecturer, SHSSW
Perception of value for money and educational engagement in undergraduate students
Dr Louise Bunce
FHEA
Senior Lecturer, SHSSW
Oxford Brookes University
Brookes Learning and Teaching Conference 2018
14th June 2018

2. Introduction 1998 - £1000 2006 - £3000 2012 - £9000 2017 - £9250
HE climate is hugely political and government policy has a direct impact on who goes to university
In 1998 Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair introduced tuition fees for the first time of means tested £1000
2003 The upper limit that students will have to pay per year is set at £3,000, to be re-paid once graduates earn above £15,000, - it’s introduced in 2006
2007 applications to uni increase, despite fees
Then in December 2010, members of Parliament voted to triple tuition fees to £9,000 a year, so from 2012 over half charged the max
Led to reduced applications in 2012 by about 19%, but recovered in 2013 and 14
@L_Bunce

3. Introduction A new student identity?
‘There is now greater emphasis on recognition of the individual [student] as customer or consumer’ (Dearing, 1997)
One of four key objectives: Ensuring students receive value for money
“unleashing the forces of consumerism is the best single way we’ve got of restoring high academic standards” (David Willetts, 2013)
Reforms following the Browne review (2011)
“unleashing the forces of consumerism is the best single way we’ve got of restoring high academic standards"
@L_Bunce

4. Consumer “One who pays something to consume goods and services”
Protected by the Consumer Rights Act 2015
‘poor service’

5. Introduction Education is not a product:
Customer isn’t always right – students don’t know what they need to know
What students want isn’t the same as what they need
One off transaction
The nature of the student (customer) affects quality of the product

6. Consumers Learners Paying for a service Feel entitled Avoid challenge
Take things at face value
Surface approach to learning
Means to an end
Complain about difficult content
Embrace challenging concepts
Engage in critical thinking
Innovate and create
Sit with difficulty
Deep approach to learning
Paying for an opportunity
Feel privileged

7. What do you think about our students?
Do you recognise these two identities in our students?
Hands up if you think:
A) most students identify as learners
B) most students identify as consumers
C) there is a mix among your cohorts
@L_Bunce

8. Do students identify as consumers?
Two surveys* of over 1300 UG studying in England
Aims: do students identify as consumers and does consumer identity affect learning and teaching practices?
*Bunce, Baird & Jones (2017) The student-as-consumer approach in higher education and its effects on academic performance Studies in Higher Education, 42,
*Bunce & Bennett (2018) A degree of studying? Approaches to learning among undergraduate student ‘consumers’ submitted for publication
@L_Bunce

9. Methods Consumer Identity (Saunders 2014)
I think of myself primarily as a paying customer
I think of my degree as a product I’m purchasing
If I cannot get a good job after I graduate, I should have some of my tuition fees refunded
The main purpose of my university education is to maximise my ability to earn money
1 = strongly disagree 3 = neutral 5 = strongly agree
@L_Bunce

10. Methods Academic performance
Approaches to learning (Biggs, Kember & Leung, 2001)
Surface My aim is to pass while doing as little work as possible
I do not find my course very interesting, so I keep my work to the minimum
Deep I find that at times studying gives me a feeling of deep personal satisfaction
I work hard at my studies because I find the material interesting
Strategic (RASI, Entwistle & Tait, 1995) – I manage to get hold of books I need for studying
I think I am systematic and organised in the way I study
Academic performance
self-reported recent grade %
@L_Bunce

11. Results
Overall, students neither agreed nor disagreed with a consumer identity Student ‘consumers’ achieved poorer grades Student ‘consumers’ employed surface (rather than deep) approaches to learning
@L_Bunce

12. Current study: Value for Money
Universities Minister, Sam Gyimah
‘Delivering VfM in the age of the student’ speech
7th June
Learning = earning
“there are courses that are providing significant salary uplifts, as well as […] fostering learning”
@L_Bunce

13. Current study: Value for Money
HEPI survey
14,000 students
38% = good/very good VfM in England
2% up on 2017 and reverses 5 yr decrease
60% in Scotland
Predictors of VfM
Student perceptions of teaching quality
Gold TEF institutions
@L_Bunce

14. Current study: Value for Money
Which? University guide 2019 Facilities Spend (careers, counselling, sport) Brookes (per student) £519 Oxford £640 Harper Adams £1,598 Birkbeck £101
@L_Bunce

15. Current study: Value for Money
Which? University guide 2019 Academic facilities spend (library, IT) Brookes (per student) £1,176 Oxford £2,703, Liverpool Hope £858
@L_Bunce

16. Current study: Value for Money
Which? University guide 2019 Staff - Student ratio Brookes 16 Oxford 11, Plymouth Marjon 23
@L_Bunce

17. Current study: Aims
What individual factors impact value for money ratings?
Are students who are more engaged with their education more likely to rate their universities as providing value for money?
@L_Bunce

18. Method 679 students from England and Wales Approaches to learning
Consumer identity
Perceptions of value for money
Complaining
Social identity with other students
Academic performance
@L_Bunce

19. Results Better value for money perceptions predicted by:
Deep/strategic learning
Identified with other students on their course
First year students
No tuition fee responsibility
@L_Bunce

20. Results Worse value for money perceptions predicted by:
Students who identified as consumers
Had complained about their course
@L_Bunce

21. Discussion
Evaluating education on the basis of its ‘value for money’ is not very meaningful
Says more about the ‘purchaser’ than the ‘product’. Indicator of student engagement
Relationship between engagement and teaching ‘quality’
@L_Bunce

22. Thank you for listening Questions/comments?
@L_Bunce