British Universities Must Unify Standards On Feedback And Deadline Penalties

By Gavin Mackintosh-

Complaints from students have highlighted that a number of Universities are behind when it comes to giving appropriate feedback to their students after coursework  have been marked.

This leaves many students clueless as to the reasons for marks they find disappointing. Most redbrick Universities provide adequate feedback to their students by returning  marked coursework with  comments that aid student awareness and improvement, but many simply notify students of their final marks, providing no opportunity for students to know where they may have gone wrong. Universities stated to be guilty of this failing include East London University, Luton University, Middlesex University, North London University, and South Bank University.

Complaints were brought to the attention of the eye of media.com by disgruntled students in August by two of the aforementioned  Universities -all of whom were known to one another. An initial investigation by the eye of media.com proceeded to randomly contact a number of universities pretending to be one of their students, to confirm the practise in those universities. We are yet to establish whether the practise is cut across all courses in those universities, but we have so far established that it is the case in many of the courses in those universities. Students who are not given feedback about their coursework performance are not likely to know what areas to improve on without a thorough an efficient feedback on the standard of their work. A point of curiosity is also why the absence of feedback appears to take place in the less ranked Universities.

Top ranked Universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Newcastle, Oxbridge, Queen Mary, and  Leeds, appear to give good feedback on written assessments returned to students.  Recently graduated associates of some of the writers of The  eye of media.com recently raised the issue, which was eventually taken on for investigation. Our investigation is in its early stage, and so far we have communicated with university students on facebook to get their opinion on the subject. This month, the eye of media will make closer contact with all of the universities mentioned and many more, to establish why different universities operate differently when it comes to the provision of feedback to their students. Communication with the authorities of the different Universities will assist in providing an understanding of the shortcomings or reasons for the differences in standards of students in various universities.

PENALTIES

Universities also seem to have different penalties for missed deadlines, with some providing no mark to students after the deadline for submission, and others taking away marks for each delayed day of submission. Wide differences in treatment of students can put students from certain universities at a great disadvantage in the job market post education. Disgruntled students at University deserved to have their issues addressed properly and fairly, including pointing out where the students themselves are in error in their judgement. Students at Universities with higher entry requirements are generally known to do better in their final degree, and are also more employable having entered University with high A levels, and therefore, a high intellectual brain from the outset. The situation is more variable for students who are admitted to Universities with average or below average grades.

Their progress and development often depends on whether their relatively weaker grades were an underachievement that does not reflect their true ability, or whether they have scraped in with a weak foundation. Mature students who qualify on the basis of employment experience often can benefit from internal assistance from their seasoned lecturers in the form of feedback. Only those with a strong academic base from their G.C.S.E’s who opted to work rather than continue on to A levels are usually able to naturally know the academic requirements for good written work. With the new semester barely a few weeks away, the eye of media.com will be on the ball to ensure that university undergraduates at British Universities are given the best opportunity to produce their best during their educational experience at University.

The eye of media.com have received about two dozen applications by University graduates this summer interested in joining our vibrant team. This, despite the fact no advert has ever been put requesting extra writers on the team. Some are being considered to join our team, although I dare to say that the financial resources to hire all applicants are currently not present by all accounts. However, adding the best minds to a team focused on making a positive difference in society and the world is an ongoing united goal of this publication. The value of University students must never be underestimated in the UK. Students turned out in masses during the last elections, coming close to pushing Theresa May out over the Conservative government’s excessive tuition fees. The Labour party capitalised on this by promising to scrap tuition fees if voted in power, putting pressure on the Conservatives to find a way to appeal to students, in particular University students, who are mature and smart enough understand what they are voting for.

British Universities will respond to our research when we turn up, or else face the inevitable bad publicity that will follow, if we discover they are short changing students who are going to be left with huge debts when they finish university. There is no suggestion in this article that Universities who have failed to provide proper feedback to students are bad or weak universities, or that good students cannot emerge from those Universities. Rather, the suggestion or position on this is that those universities may not be given all their students the best chance of producing their best and developing as highly as students at other universities.