What are we to do with our ‘nice students’? The learning experience within the scholastic apartheid system of the research-led university

an article by Mike Marinetto (Cardiff University, UK) published in Organization Volume 20 Number 4 (July 2013)

Abstract

The Humboldtian educational ideal of the modern university based around an intellectual-based learning experience cannot be ignored. Indeed, this has been brought into sharp relief by the marketisation of higher education: there is a growing awareness in the university sector, particularly in research-intensive universities, that fee-paying students are entitled to a worthwhile learning experience.

This awareness has been further reinforced with the growth of consumer scrutiny in the higher education sector, principally through the introduction of the National Student Survey in 2005.

The concern of this article is to explore how research-focused institutions have used their supposed research excellence to pursue teaching excellence and whether this really has enhanced the student learning experience in practice.

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