Summer Term - Value for Money?

[KenR]

DS who is at B/Ham studying Natural Sciences has no lectures or practicals at all this term and just a couple of tutorials - one of which was cancelled.

£3000 for a 1 hour tutorial and access to the University Library doesn't seem great value for money to me.

When I was at Univ many years ago we had about 6 weeks of lectures in the summer term!

Is this the norm now?

[scary mum]

I know someone who finished just after Easter. No exams, no lectures from mid April until mid September. Of course they have to pay their tuition & accommodation. It seems outrageous to me & it's not helping them spread their wings if they are at home for 5 months of the year, possibly without a job.

[southbucks3]

I wonder if things will change as more parents realise their sons and daughters are being ripped off. My summer terms were chokka full of field study work, which had to be finished, bound and submitted for marking by June as it was part of the module results.

When you pay for the tuition does it give a breakdown of hours tutoring, use of facilities, lectures etc, or simply a bill for £9k uni fees. When you do a part time course you are told exactly how many hours lectures you will get and can request a refund if lectures are cancelled.

Time to start making noises, preferably before my eldest son goes to college please.

[Yamin151]

I completely agree with southbucks, I would be raising ts, that is outrageous and a rip off.

[KB]

No teaching in exam term seems pretty standard but for a science subject ( guessing 1st year?) many have some kind of project after exams.

[hermanmunster]

DC has the "two equal semesters with exams at the end of both" style academic year. Works well, though of course each semester costs more than a term.

[leanmeamum]

My daughter is in Nottingham and she has had lectures and was also allowed to take part in 2 masters sessions as she wanted a taster before making her mind up about the course.

Mind you she is in the final year but I do remember her having lectures in the first year/term.

[Yamin151]

No teaching in exam term seems pretty standard but for a science subject ( guessing 1st year?) many have some kind of project after exams.

Really?? I did an English and film studies degree and even WE had our usual program of lectures in the summer term. And work to turn in too. My dissertation on Hellzapoppin' was brill

[scary mum]

I think the uni stats thingy tell you how many hours of lectures a week and what percentage is exams, but not what percentage of the year you are paying your £9000 for. The person I mentioned had no clue, and while they are very happy, would not recommend the course based on this. I think it's outrageous - I did a sceince degree & I'm fairly sure we had lectures in the summer term - I certainly didn't finish until late June, so I must have been doing something during that time

[Rob Clark]

I also did English and we definitely had lectures and tutorials throughout the summer terms. Admittedly we never started before 11am, but I don't recall it being any easier than any other term – I spent one summer writing a 5,000 word piece on the semiotics of the film 'Desperately Seeking Susan', which I had to watch over and over again on video (that's a now-defunct piece of technology which preceded DVDs and Blu Rays for you youngsters on the Forum )

On a more serious note, I do think people should complain over a lack of teaching. I wasn't in favour of the commercialisation of degrees, but since it has been decided to go down that route I think there is a quid pro quo involved – I don't think universities can expect to run themselves like businesses on the one hand and not expect to be answerable to their 'customers' on the other.