Leaguely blonde?

Students’ views of higher education often owe more to American romcoms than to the information supplied by British universities.

Students’ expectations about higher education are a lot more varied and idiosyncratic than many people think. Those who work in higher education spend hours analysing Key Information Set statistics and poring over institutions’ league table positions. Students, on the other hand, have much more generalised expectations, drawn from friends, family and, somewhat surprisingly, American films.

This is what my colleagues and I found in a Quality Assurance Agency funded research project that explored students’ expectations and perceptions of the quality of their learning experience and the academic standards of their chosen programmes of study.