Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) report on student experience

25 September 2007

Dr Wendy Piatt, Director General of The Russell Group, said:

"The Russell Group welcomes HEPI’s latest report on student experience as improving information on the number of hours studied by UK students.  We welcome the findings which include:

• Raw average amount of teaching received by those studying at Russell Group universities is higher than average for other universities.
• Students in Russell Group universities spent more time on average on their studies than others.  

"However, the UK rightly operates an outcome-based model of higher education where qualifications are awarded based on achieving a certain standard or level of achievement.  In such a system, measuring the number of hours studied – a measure of input not output – is not a particularly effective indicator of the health of the UK higher education system as the HEPI report accepts that there is no necessary connection between these two things.

"Different learners require different levels of input.  The Russell Group of Universities admit high-achieving, well-prepared, self-motivated students and we encourage them to work effectively and efficiently through directed self-learning.  The combined teaching and world-class research environment at our universities ensures that we continue to produce capable, self-motivated, innovative graduates of the highest standard."