Students say universities should make lecturers’ qualifications publicly available

Social learning site says it supports 'any moves to make this information freely available' as students say it would 'definitely' influence their university choice

(JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Universities should publicly reveal academics’ qualifications on their websites and in prospectuses, according to new research from The Student Room.

The world’s largest online student community polled 500 students to find 77 per cent believed they have a right to know how their lecturers fared when they were students, with another one in five adding how this information would ‘definitely’ affect their choice of university.

As well as this, 57 per cent of students were surprised to learn lecturers don’t always have some form of teaching qualifications, despite 77 per cent saying this was important to them in higher education.

The Student Room said its research supports the Government’s aim of providing students with the information they need to judge teaching quality – via the Teaching Excellence Framework – which will see the Government monitoring and assessing the quality of teaching in England’s universities.

Community director, Jack Wallington, described how the social learning site aims to provide as much information as possible on university choices in order to ensure students are in a position to make the best decisions on their educational career.

He added: “Our research shows that students feel information on lecturers’ qualifications is important in making these decisions, and we support any moves to make this information freely available.”

On the whole, students rated depth of knowledge of the subject lecturers are teaching (ie. having a degree) as the most important to them (60 per cent), followed by passion for the subject (22 per cent), empathy for their students (nine per cent), and a teaching qualification (nine per cent).