Students seen as 'necessary nuisances' by top universities

Top-ranking universities regard students as "necessary nuisances" to secure research funding, but are failing young people when it comes to looking after their wellbeing, the incoming vice-chancellor at the University of Buckingham has said.

Sir Anthony Seldon, who recently left his post as Master of Wellington College, also said the lack of pastoral care by universities is leading to students' lives being wasted on drugs and alcohol.

His comments follow warnings of "barbaric and dangerous student club ceremonies, including drinking alcohol in industrial quantities and biting the heads off goldfish".

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, Sir Anthony said: "I am sick to death of seeing the damage that drugs and alcohol abuse do to young people and I have seen far too many people at university go off the rails - and they and their parents sometimes never come back."

Whilst he had huge praise for some universities, he also said universities had failed to pursue proper pastoral care and their roles needed to include looking after young people on top of carrying out research.

"Many universities would say that they are primarily there to research but I would love to see this country develop a far more of a reputation for outstanding teaching and to take the focus of highly bureaucratised research which is becoming an ogre that feeds of itself.

"The balance has gone too far in favour of research and too little away from the undergraduate experience of life, the preparation for work, looking after their mental and psychological health."

He said great teaching in higher education was often sacrificed at the expense of academic research.Students seen as 'necessary nuisances' by top universities

Sir Anthony, who has turned out roughly 4,000 graduates during his time as headmaster, said: "Sometimes teachers find that they can't concentrate on the teaching because of the research.

"My experience of listening to my own children and those who have gone to university is that the lesser universities can often be better at teaching and can be better at pastoral care.

"The top universities focus too much on research and the students can be just cannon fodder - necessary nuisances - because you need the numbers.

"You speak to many university leaders and you ask them what they are trying to maximise and they would say research. Sorry chumps, it's not good enough, they need to be ranked equally on the quality of their teaching, which includes the whole experience.

"We have the total balance wrong that universities are being run in the interest of academics too much and university leaders are insufficiently in the interest of students.

"In the age of the internet where students can listen on line to the world authorities give lectures, students no longer need in the same way to be taught by great researchers - they want to be taught by great teachers."

Sir Anthony isn't the first one to express concerns about the transition from school to university.

Last month, William Richardson, general secretary of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses’ Conference, said that “low contact hours” and less demanding timetables in humanities and social sciences compared to medicine degrees result in students drinking to entertain themselves.

Mr Richardson also said there was “an unreasonable expectation of entitlement” to a degree from students with little work to do during the first semesters at university.

There have been recent reports of a worsening of the hard-drinking, drug-taking culture on campus that has led to the National Students Union to denounce British universities for failing to tackle lad culture.