Students who get limited contact time with university staff are less likely to enjoy the student experience – and those who don’t work hard enough don’t have a good time either.



A survey of more than 15,000 full-time UK undergraduates found that on average students spent more time studying independently than they did with teaching staff, leaving some feeling unsatisfied with their experience of university.

The research, carried out by Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA), found that students were less satisfied when they had fewer than 10 contact hours a week and class sizes of more than 50 students.

On average, students had 12 hours of contact time and 14 hours of independent study a week.

Only 57% of students who spent fewer than 10 hours a week on their studies felt satisfied, compared with 77% of students who spent between 30-39 hours a week studying. Those with fewer contact hours felt more strongly that they weren’t getting value for money and were more likely to have chosen another course if they could have had their time again, the survey found.

When asked what experience or skills they would like staff to have, students listed professional experience and training in teaching as priorities. Only 17% said that staff being active researchers was the most important characteristic.



While the majority of students (87%) were positive about their overall experience of their course, for the 12% of students who weren’t satisfied, the main reason given was that they did not work hard enough. Others felt they lacked support in independent study, received fewer contact hours than they had expected, and believed the course was poorly organised.

Across disciplines, male students were more likely to feel dissatisfied with the way courses were run. Male students studying education were three times more likely than female students to feel teaching on their course was disorganised and unstructured.

Just under half of students said they would prefer less money to be spent on sport facilities and buildings, and for budget cuts not to impact on the number of contact hours.

“It’s important to note the relatively high numbers who do not feel supported in independent study,” said professor Stephanie Marshall, chief executive of HEA. “We know that the skills developed through independent study are important to employers and to lifelong learning. Providing guidance and structure outside timetabled sessions is key here.”

The survey also questioned students about their wellbeing and compared their responses with that of the general population. It found that students were less likely to regard their lives as worthwhile and were less happy than others, including those of a similar age group.

Nick Hillman, director of Hepi, said universities should see support services, including counselling, as a priority.

He added that the removal of the students number controls in September this year could see more students from disadvantaged backgrounds entering higher education, making support services for vulnerable students even more important.

Yet cuts combined with a huge increase in students using support services has left many university welfare teams overstretch and struggling to meet demand.

Ruth Caleb, head of counselling at Brunel University, said over the past decade she has seen a 10% increase year-on-year in the number of students using support services at Brunel.

“It’s not as easy as saying that students who don’t get much contact time are not as satisfied,” said Caleb.

“Some students work very well independently, while others struggle for different reasons. Lots of students are increasingly needing to work longer hours to pay for living expenses – we are seeing more students who don’t have time for independent study.



“If students are dissatisfied we need to encourage them not to wait for the annual National Student Survey, but to go to tutors to say they are unhappy. We need to help students be more vocal and collegial and look at the difficulties they are having.”

Caleb stressed that universities need to recognise how important these support services are for retaining students. “Student services are struggling to offer a meaningful service to students using the same resources or less than they had in the past, and this will impact on the student experience – waiting times will grow and in some cases students will be offered less sessions for counselling.”

Research undertaken by Brunel showed that without counselling intervention, the university could lose at least 250 students every year at an estimate of £2.45m a year.

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