Contract to study
Those who enjoy skipping the odd lecture to have a lie-in should be thankful that they're at Imperial. Oxford University has announced that it will be the first university in Britain to introduce legally binding contracts making the attendance of tutorials and lectures compulsory.
The contract sanctions the legal system's jurisdiction over the agreement and thus effectively enables the university to take action against students in breach of the terms. This means that students who fail to honour their academic commitments may find themselves facing prosecution in court.
The contracts, which were drawn up without any consultation of student representatives, have been widely criticised by the student body for being overly vague. In a section entitled 'Your Undertakings', the contract states, "You undertake to pursue such studies as are required of you by any tutor, fellow or lecturer, or other qualified person assigned by the college to teach you." In addition to the ambiguous wording, many feel the content is biased, reflecting the lack of student input.
Despite several caveats in place to safeguard the university's teaching practices, there is little protection for students and no stipulation of teaching quality or quantity over the course. Indeed, the document pledges only that "The College will make such teaching provision for undergraduate students as it reasonably decides is necessary."
The move follows the recent trend towards a business approach in the running of academic institutions. The contract is thought to have been introduced as a slightly extreme measure to guard against a rise in student litigation after the introduction of top-up fees this September. Universities are worried that the increase in tuition fees may cause students to demand better value for money from their courses.
They are concerned that students may take legal action if they fail to achieve good exam results. Cases of students seeking compensation for poor tuition are by no means unheard of. A student at the University of Wolverhampton was recently awarded £30,000 in an outof-court settlement after threatening the university with legal action on the grounds that his lecture halls were overcrowded and his tutors had set him assignments containing grammatical errors. Michael Beloff, QC, President of Trinity College, who drew up the contract, spoke of the need to implement such legal protection in the present climate: "We took the view that we were out of kilter with the modern age. Fifty years ago, no-one would have thought of such a thing, but we live in a much more litigious society."
It is thought that the measure will be adopted by other institutions in the near future as a means to better defend themselves against complaints. Other universities, besides Oxford, are already showing interest in the introduction of contracts to ensure students attend a satisfactory amount of lectures. Felix has asked Imperial if such contracts will be introduced here, but, as yet, College have not responded to our questions. James Long, a first year physicist said, "I don't think there's any point. If people can't be bothered, then their results will show it."
