Here are few things on what students and teachers said in response to the recent reforms that are being proposed to overhaul the university education in UK. More on what has been proposed can be found at university white paper http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13939525 –
This is what Former student, Chris Matthews, London said:
“I feel so cheated by the university system. I could have done my whole course in three terms, over one year, but it was stretched out over three because “that’s the way it’s always been done”. This statement supports what I said in my previous blog about filler subjects wasting both time and money for students.
“How can you fail a student who has been paying £9,000 a year for you to teach them?If you, as an admissions tutor, have properly selected students able to complete the course, then how will students react to being failed? They will simply say “well, you didn’t teach me properly.” Universities do not exist for the sole purpose of education; they are prime research facilities.” from Undergraduate student, Tom Hearing, from Dorchester
“Methods for assessing teaching quality have always been unfavourable for teaching staff. Students rarely understand the demands of teaching or research posts at university or turnaround times for marking, which can be as little as four weeks.” from
Lecturer, David Gibbs, Norwich pointing to teacher’s plight in providing a sound benchmark.
Don’t you think if the focus had been on learning to start with, education per se can be dealt with more firmly by both teachers and students? More I hear about such plights of students and teachers around the globe, more I am getting convinced that the solid foundation provided by COL would not only meet the expectations of solid learning foundation provided by such greats like Maria Montessori through her concept of developing the learning abilities from childhood, but also augments such efforts to wipe out discrepancy in learning that come into play once the child steps into higher forms of learning by providing techniques that can withstand the changing times through centuries.