Mandelson: University Students Are Consumers

Lord Mandelson said British students should be viewed as ‘consumers’ and offered extra information about university courses, including knowledge about drop-out rates, contact hours with teachers and potential future earnings.

The Business Secretary has claimed that undergraduate university students should be choosy when picking or dealing with a school. Mandelson told the CBI should have the right to be more demanding in order to increase the quality of higher education.

He’s scheduled to launch a new blueprint concerning the future of universities in the UK which will help define the higher education priorities and which arrives just before a student funding system review is due to start.

Mandelson says UK universities will be a determining factor the country’s economic recovery.

Two weeks ago during a CBI conference, Mandelson warned attendees that if more financial demands are put on the shoulders of university students, it is expected for them to receive more from the British educational system.

The comments sparked rumours that the UK Government is about to increase the £3,225 cap on university tuition fees.

During an interview at the BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Lord Mandelson said students should be informed on how employable they will be after a certain course and what will be the potential earnings of graduates.

He said such information was crucial and that universities were obligated to provide fuller information concerning the quality and the type of teaching and how many direct contact hours will be offered in the company of teachers.

Mandelson branded the tuition fees a ‘bold and successful’ move by the Government, but said that an assessment of the university fees might take nearly a year to complete.

The Government plan includes:

• More participation from the business sector for funding and designing courses.
• A higher concentration of research money in the country’s elite institutions, such as UCL, Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial.
• A system of labels for university courses to help choose degree options combined with the best employment potential.
• Rate of drop-out students per course as well as the average salaries for previous graduates.