HAS EDUCATION BECOME A MERE STATISTIC?

AS AN ACTIVE participant in Scotland's higher educational system, it is easy to criticise the manner in which various colleges and universities are administered.

     The economic reforms which have been introduced since the late 1970s have effectively destroyed the notion that certain jobs will remain with a person for life.  This, accompanied with the Blairite rhetoric that 'everybody is now middle class' and that 'all have the opportunity to study for a degree', has led to an explosion in the number of applications colleges and universities receive.

     Many people now feel an obligation to obtain a degree level qualification if they wish to secure fruitful employment, even if certain applicants do not possess the ability or have the commitment to genuinely succeed in their studies.

     Dundee University

However, the resultant effect has been somewhat detrimental to the way Scotland's educational system now operates.  The great influx of students seems to have changed the ethos which once defined the academic process.  Lecturers, browbeaten by their superiors to achieve high pass rates, are ordered to do this on the premise that an improved statistical performance from their institution will raise its overall reputation.  This, in theory, should equate to greater funding for the institution for the following academic year.

     In the very worst case scenarios, students achieve their qualification without possessing any real in-depth knowledge into the subject matter.  From a financial aspect, the educational institution appears to be the only real beneficiary.

     Scotland's older, more established universities may refute this analysis, preferring instead to confine this assessment to colleges alone.

     To an extent, they may be correct.  Many students who undertake HND courses - which, academically, are comparable with the first and second years of an honours degree - seem reluctant to commit to the hours of study required to achieve the maximum result.  As a consequence a quarter often scrape through by the tips of their fingers, showing little at the end except a framed picture of their HND certificate.

     This impacts on their lecturers attitudes, many of whom have become disillusioned when they clearly recognise statistical results are now taking precedence over all other considerations.

     However, during each academic year, all HND classes possess students whose attitudes, talents and motivational approach challenge this view; students who are able to absorb the information they receive, and then use the theoretical teaching to produce brilliantly tangible results.

     Although the monolithic and, at times, inflexible organisation which constitutes the Scottish Qualifications Authority has resulted in several HND courses running units which are clearly irrelevant - an example being the current HND Media Communications course teaching the obsolete unit of film photography when digital photography is predominantly used in the industry - the overall construction of HND courses has been planned effectively.  When students can recognise how seemingly unconnected units can interlink, the broad base of knowledge will grant them a distinct advantage over their university counterparts, whose knowledge base has perhaps been restricted by a more rigid curriculum.

     Over recent years universities have begun to recognise this, with many now offering HND students progression routes into their degree year.  However, university motives are by no means altruistic.  Again, the insidious hand of statistics has been instrumental in writing this script.  High drop-out rates by year three has seen many universities threatened with greater funding cuts, and in order to combat this, university management have supported this initiative in order to boost their numbers, both literarily and metaphorically.

     The great irony is that many of the students who have matriculated into year three via college actually produce higher levels of work than their naturalised peers. 

     

University of Aberdeen

However, Scotland's long established universities, including St Andrews and Aberdeen, fail to recognise this and are still unwilling to countenance the prospect of allowing college students to matriculate into year three of their degree courses.

     Assured that their reputation precludes them from adopting such an approach, their management remain firm in their conviction that their selection process identifies only the best possible candidates, even if this is not necessarily the case.

     In an ideal world students should only be accepted to any educational institution based on the merit of their achievements.  And whatever course they are studying, their ability to remain on their chosen course should mainly be determined by their ability to meet deadlines, and produce work to a high standard on a continual basis.

     Although a student's personal circumstances should always be taken into consideration, those who clearly lack commitment or ability should be ejected from the course immediately.  This may be anathema to a managerial creed who firmly believe short term statistical success reflects the educational success of their institution.  However, in the long term, if an institution produces only graduates of quality, the perception of the institution will significantly improve.

     At present, universities and colleges which focus purely on achieving high pass rates through compromise are ultimately damaging their reputation, the reputation of their lecturers, and the reputation of the many diligent students who have chosen to study at that institution.  For the students who graduate through the merit of their achievements will be consigned to mediocrity, condemned not by their hand, but by the hand of obtuse managers; managers whose obsession with statistics has blinded them to the fundamental meaning of education.