The Cheese Grater Spring 2017 3
UCL spend millions patching up failing facilities to accomodate rising student numbers Peter FitzSimons UCL provost Michael Arthur has revealed at the latest Academic Board meeting that student numbers will rise by “2% or so” again this year. This would take the total number of enrolled students to above 40,000, cementing UCL’s place as Britain’s biggest university. Arthur also asserted that space will grow by 3%, not enough to cover the ballooning student numbers. At the October UCL Council meeting, the strategic objective “to develop a teaching estate that is fit for purpose” was assigned a red traffic light, indicating severe concerns. Michael Arthur first proposed “moderate growth” in student numbers as the best way to increase UCL’s financial stability, however, he repeatedly ignored academics’ concerns
about the hidden costs of student number expansion. In a vicious cycle, UCL takes on more students to pay for the increase in space required to accommodate the students it already has. Renting external spaces comes at an exorbitant cost—£2 million in the 2015/6 academic year, and a predicted £1.8 million in 2016/7. For academics, too, it is a serious issue. One head of department within the SHS faculty commented to The Cheese Grater that problems with room bookings are par for the course: “the overwhelming perception in the department is one of frustration at the daily, on-theground, logistical difficulties.” Inconvenient room allocations are common across all departments and faculties; as the head of department put it, Estates try to “spread the love—or spread the misery”.
Other university facilities, too, are struggling for space. Over the past few years, the number of study spaces has steadily increased. But the exponential student population growth has wildly outpaced increase in study space. Until last year, there was no clear channel of communication between the faculties, who would take on ever more students without indicating the increased demand to Library Services. This year, UCL conducted an occupational impact assessment, seeking to correlate the growth of faculties with the needs of the library, and other support services. The report deemed the lack of study space an ‘amber risk’, demanding action. As Michael Arthur seems to be doubling down on his strategy, we can expect the cycle to repeat itself ad infinitum
NSS: No Student Say
UCL seek to increase fees by marginalising student voices Laura Foster-Devaney In the face of a national campaign encouraging students to boycott the National Student Survey (NSS), which measures the student satisfaction of a university, UCL has pulled back on promoting its completion. In previous years, senior management has heavily incentivised the NSS through prize draws, extensive advertising and financial bonuses for high-performing departments. However, this year, Anthony Smith, vice-provost of education and student affairs, indicated to sabbatical officers that the policy of incentivisation they had followed previously would be abandoned. The importance of the NSS lies in the fact that it is being used as a significant measure for the Teaching Excellence
Framework (TEF). The TEF will grade universities as gold, silver and bronze, with each level corresponding to how much the university will be allowed to raise their tuition fees.
UCL is widely expected to only achieve a bronze grade under the TEF, largely as a result of their poor student satisfaction ratings, as revealed by the NSS. As such, UCL seem to want to shut out student voices completely, with Provost Michael Arthur expressing a wish to “downgrade the NSS” as a measurement of performance. This was seemingly confirmed by Professor Husbands, chair of the TEF panel, who stated that he does not think student satisfaction is an “accurate proxy for teaching quality.” This could shut out students’ only leverage against further tuition fee rises.
Even Anthony Smith expressed sympathy for students, saying: “I absolutely accept the position that UCLU have taken in asking students not to complete the NSS this year. I entirely understand it from a students’ point of view, when they signed up to complete the NSS, they were not thinking that it was used to raise their fees” When pressed on why UCL even joined the TEF to begin with, Michael Arthur claimed that refusing to take part in the survey would draw attention from the press, and disapproval from the government, who they are relying on for a large loan which will help fund the UCL East project. In the end, it’s all about the money, money, money.
