UCL branded one of the worst unis for teaching

UCL has been rated one of the top universities for “unsatisfactory teaching” it has been revealed.

Alongside Edinburgh, Strathclyde, Bristol and King’s College London, UCL was ranked in the bottom ten universities for student satisfaction in teaching, despite many of them, UCL included, belonging to the Russell Group.

UCL was among the group of universities where teaching satisfaction was ranked low by the students, at 56.3 per cent. Our neighbours also performed poorly, with Kings scoring 57.3 per cent and LSE 61 per cent. 

The analysis was carried out by The Sunday Times and satisfaction levels were measured by how prompt, detailed and helpful lecturers’ feedback was.

Students also complained of having very little contact time, with one student dropping out after two years, claiming he’d “barely set eyes on his tutor”.

History student Paddy Baker said: “For the money humanities students pay, there doesn’t seem to be a massive return in both contact hours and support.

“It could particularly be a problem for first years who might need more help adjusting to university. It might feel like a baptism of fire.”

The results in full will be released next week as part of plans for a new test of teaching quality soon to be introduced by the government.

Only those universities that pass the teaching exam will be allowed to charge the top bracket £9,000 fee.

Jo Johnson, the universities minister, argues with so many universities charging so much, students deserved a less “patchy” teaching experience.

He told the Universities UK annual conference: “There is extraordinary teaching that deserves recognition. And there is lamentable teaching that must be driven out of our system.”

Experts predict only one in three universities will pass the test and it seems top ranking universities will need to change their focus to maintain their reputations.