STUDENTS are left feeling like an “afterthought” at universities with lecturers concentrating on lucrative research than teaching, according to a student leader.
Lauren McDougall, president of the Students’ Representative Council at Glasgow University, called for institutions to train lecturers to ensure all academics were able to teach effectively.
Her comments come at a time when there is an increasing focus on research as a way of boosting the income of universities.
University rankings, which are seen as crucial to the recruitment of students both at home and overseas, are also heavily weighted towards research output.
Ms McDougall said the skills required to be the best researcher were not the same as the skills required to be a great educator.
She said: “The journey to becoming an academic is very focussed on research skills with the pressure to publish and remain active in research, but there is not the same focus on educational skills.
“It is not surprising that many do not excel at teaching unless they have a natural ability and, given a number of undergraduate courses are taught by graduate teaching assistants, many of whom are only a few years ahead of the graduates they’re teaching, means we cannot expect them to be naturally gifted educators.”
Ms McDougall, who was speaking at a teaching excellence summit at Glasgow University run by the Times Higher Education magazine, called for universities to spend more time developing academics.
She said: “We require primary and secondary school teachers to undergo intensive training before we allow them into the classroom, but we don’t expect the same from academics and I don’t really understand why there is a general assumption that academics can teach without dedicated training.
“There needs to be a lot more time invested by universities in developing academics as educators. That would help students feel more valued.
“Sometimes there is a risk for undergraduate students to feel sidelined by research activity in a university and we are all very aware of the tensions that exist for academics between splitting their time.
“Sometimes there is a tendency for undergraduates to feel secondary - an afterthought - to the main activity of research in a research-intensive university.”
Mary Senior, Scotland Official for the University and College Union, which represents lecturers, said teaching was of a high quality, but could be affected by staff contracts which were often insecure.
She said: “Accredited teacher training courses and qualifications should be accessible to all members of academic staff, and flexible enough to reflect major disciplinary differences within higher education.
“The real issue is teaching-only contracts can mean the exploitation of staff on casual contracts, and the fact that, although students often don’t realise it, most of them will be taught at some point by people on insecure casual contracts.
A spokesman for Universities Scotland, which represents principals, said: “It’s been a long-stated position of our members that research informs teaching and there will also be a fine balancing act to ensure that students and academics get the most out of both elements”.
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