Students getting value for money?

Universities come under scrutiny for differences in contact hours.

The Mail Online have published details from Unistats, highlighting the universities which offer the most and least teaching hours for the same courses.

History is a subject subject has been criticised more than others, with UCL offering more than triple the amount of lectures and seminars than students receive at the University of York.

We look into how Leicester compares to these statistics.

On average, a student taking BA History will spend 17% of their course in contact hours. This is a vast improvement from the two universities who have been exposed as offering the least amount. Students at Royal Holloway have 13%, while those at York only have 8%.

However, when compared to the top universities, it seems that Leicester’s History students aren’t getting such a fair deal. Glamorgan and Northampton offer 29% and 31% respectively, the latter being almost double the amount of hours at Leicester.

A first year history student at Leicester commented: ‘I’d have to say we probably get less value for money than some other unis’

Similarly, a first year English student said that although happy with her contact hours, the fact that teaching hours vary between unis, despite it being the same course, is ‘very unfair’.

Given the recent rise in tuition fees – most unis asking for maximum £9,000 per year – it is important that courses accommodate to these changes.

And as students make that financial investment, it should be asked whether Leicester is doing enough to ensure value for money for its students.