Old Dogs and New Tricks: What Can the UK Teach the US About University Education

1
Old Dogs and New Tricks What Can the UK Teach
the US About University Education?

• Presentation to Centre for Research in Lifelong
  Learning
• March 22, 2004

2
Background

• Who cares about completion in the US, and why?
• Politicians of both parties.
• Audit paradigm focus on the efficiency and
  accountability of HE institutions in the use of
  public funds
• Advocates for low income populations.
• Equity paradigm can higher education mitigate
  social inequality?

3
By international standards, US rates of
university completion are fairly low
4
And cannot simply be explained by wider entry,
since there is no clear relationship between
entry and completion
5
Completion is linked to socioeconomic status
6
Rates of university participation in UK rose
sharply with little apparent increase in
noncompletion
7
Study Questions

• Are rates of university completion in the UK
  truly higher than those in US?
• If so, why?
• What can the US learn from the UK to improve its
  performance? What might the UK learn from the US
  experience?

8
Boring but necessary nomenclature and measurement

• University
• A higher education institution (HEI) authorized
  to confer a bachelor degree (in US a four-year
  college or a university)
• UK Completion
• Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) projects
  completion rate for all full-time first
  (bachelor) degree students
• For UK university system, 82 percent
• For individual HEIs 1 to 39 percent neither
  completing a degree nor transferring

9

• US completion no single official measure.
• Six year institutional graduation rate for
  first-time full-time students.
• 54 percent nationally.
• Wide variation among institutions CSU, Los
  Angeles (29), UC Berkeley (84), Harvard (97).
• Student completion rate.
• Longitudinal national samples from National
  Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
• Varies according to which university entrants are
  included in cohort, how early they are tracked,
  and for how long.
• By conventional definitions, 66-67 percent of US
  university students complete a bachelors degree
  compared to UK rate of 82 percent.

10
Why differences in rates of university
completion? Is it government policies towards
completion?

• US, federal no mention in Higher Education Act
  institutions must report six-year graduation
  rate.
• US, state limited student-level data, no
  benchmarks, and no significant link to funding
• England
• benchmarked performance indicators for HEIs
• press scrutiny, government scrutiny (NAO), and
  ministerial pressure
• completion-related funding

11
Within the higher education community, growing
attention to noncompletion
12
(No Transcript)
13
Are US university students more likely to drop
out because the returns to a university education
are smaller than for graduates in the UK?
14
Is it insufficient faculty, leading to queues for
courses, insufficient faculty direction, and
discouragement?
15
Do students leave university due to privations of
student life, or the demand of paid work? A
comparison of paid work among fulltime students
shows
16
A Typology Elite and Mass Higher Education

• Elite Entry
• Limited and selective entry from secondary system
  closely aligned to demands of university study
• Sharp separation from other forms of
  post-compulsory education and training.

• Mass Entry
• Broad entry and highly variable selectively
• Secondary system not aligned to the demands of
  university study
• Close links between university and other
  post-compulsory institutions.

• Elite Progress
• Homogeneous, motivated, and young student body
• Ecclesiastical study continuous and full-time,
  to the exclusion of other activities
• Unitary course, and pedagogical frame set by
  instructors.

• Mass Progress
• Entrants range widely in age, academic
  preparation, motivation
• Credit transfer and modularization make possible
  variable patterns of attendance many are not
  exclusively students
• Relatively open pedagogical frame marked by
  student choice

• Outcomes
• High and common degree standard
• Low and common rates of wastage

• Outcomes
• Highly variable degree standard
• Moderately high noncompletion, variable.

17
Entry to First Degree Study Still An Elite
System?

• 1. Selectivity (what share of age cohort
  continues from upper secondary academic course to
  university?)
• The traditional path to university expanded
  almost twice the share of the age cohort enters
  A-level study and obtains two A-level results

18
2. Exclusivity What proportion university
entrants take traditional path of upper secondary
academic preparation for university?
19
3. Alignment how closely joined is upper
secondary education curriculum and assessment to
the demands of university education?

• A-level originally an entrance examination
  controlled by universities and geared to serve
  their needs. Changes in 1980s diminish
  university control over upper secondary
  curriculum and assessment.
• Example in A-level maths, increased emphasis on
  statistics, diminished emphasis on calculus,
  resulting in mismatch between skill set of
  entrants and university curriculum in maths and
  engineering.
• 1990s introduction of diagnostic testing for
  students entering university in linear
  disciplines, e.g. maths, modern languages
  (Engineering Council, 2000.
• Mike Tomlinson, (Review of 14-19 education)
  2004
• It isnt that young people at university arent
  able to do thisits not been an integral part of
  their programme and it has not been encouraged
  and supported by the way in which they are
  assessed. Its not their fault, and its not the
  fault of their teachers.

20
What are the implications of changes in
selectivity, exclusivity, and alignment for
English universities?

• 1. Wider range of abilities among university
  entrants
• Lower average level of readiness to enter course,
  and the emergence of a core of students who may
  need preparatory instruction before beginning
  course, i.e. remediation
• See slides below

21
Estimated probability of HE qualification, by
ability, for highest income quintile of men (top)
and lowest (bottom) for 1958 cohort (continuous
line) and 1970 cohort (discontinuous line).
22
2. Emergence of a core of students who are not
yet fully prepared for course upon entry to
university

• Programs
• Entry into year 1 of course if summer-length
  module(s) successfully completed
• Bridging Programs for students entering from
  years 2 or 3 from HND or foundation degree
  programs
• Remedial Instruction within year one, including
  lower level transition modules, additional
  assessed modules, supplementary lectures, etc.
  (Engineering Council, 2000).
• How many students?
• gt60 departments of Mathematics, Physics and
  Engineering give diagnostic tests in mathematics
  to their new undergraduates (Engineering Council,
  2000). Also common in other linear disciplines,
  e.g. modern languages.
• An estimated 15-20 percent on incoming students
  now assessed. If half subsequently undertake
  preparatory work, then 10-15 percent.
• No national data available from HESA data not
  kept at modular level, and no consistent
  definition of these modules across institutions.
• More ICM survey for THES, March 2003, 502
  faculty respondents

23
ICM Survey, March 2003, "Students Are Better
Prepared for Higher Education Than They Were
Years Ago" (502 academic staff in England,
Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland)
24
And, entry to university education in the US, in
comparison

• No Alignment
• No distinct period of specialized study within
  upper secondary education. Students enter
  university, not course (England) or faculty
  (Scotland). Year one similar to upper secondary,
  with entry onto course in year two.
• Secondary curriculum and assessment unrelated to
  university entry and curriculum.
• 2. Low Exclusivity of Academic Secondary to
  University
• Students may enter from vocational secondary, or
  from two-year institutions. In some states nearly
  half of bachelor graduates begin at two-year
  institution (WA state, 41 percent of bachelor
  graduates have gt40 cc credits).
• 3. No Common Standard of Selectivity or
  Preparation
• 2,000 institutions with wide range of entry
  standards, open admissions to highly selective.
• Most students enter moderately selective
  institutions CSU system (319,000 UG) admits top
  1/3 of HS class. University of California system
  (154,000 UG) admits top 1/8th of HS class.
• Nationally, an average of 31 percent of
  university entrants do not have intermediate or
  advanced secondary training in maths, natural
  sciences, and modern languages.

25
Result a significant proportion of students are
not fully prepared for university at entry, the
incidence of which varies sharply across
universities.

• 4. Remediation
• --1/4 of US university entrants need some (one
  or more remedial modules)
• --fewer, about 1/6 need significant remediation
  (i.e. reading, or more than two courses in maths
  or writing, shown to be associated with
  noncompletion).
• --Rates vary sharply across institutions, from 0
  to 75 percent of entrants requiring remediation.
• 27 percent of institutions do not provide
  remediation
• CSU system 59 percent of entrants not
  proficient in all subjects
• CSU-LA, 74 percent need maths, 76 percent
  English
• --Remediation driven not only by secondary
  preparation, but also needs of returning adults
  and those whose first language is not English.

26
University Entry in the US and England

• Significant changes in entry to English
  universities since 1987in selectivity,
  exclusiveness, and alignment--and in these
  respects it is more like other mass systems (US,
  Australia)
• Nonetheless, compared to the US, the English
  university system appears to have
• more consistent standards of entry,
• much closer alignment to secondary education
• somewhat narrower range of preparation
• slightly higher average level of preparation
• The UKs higher rate of university completion is
  probably the result, in part, of these
  differences in academic preparation among
  entering students.

27
Student Progression The Persistence of Elite
Practice in England?

• Elite practice expectation of continuous and
  full-time study (at institution and course of
  origin) to the exclusion of other activities,
  within pedagogical frame set by instructors.
• Since 1980s, widespread adoption of semester,
  module, and credit in England.
• Some say that there has been a change in
  nomenclature, but no increase mobility, choice,
  or flexibility for learners, and no move away
  from ecclesiastical model (e.g. NIACE).
• Evidence (see below) supports critics.

28
Progression in US and UK remains sharply
different, in spite of modularization and
creditsone institution, fixed and limited
timeUK projected outcomes for fulltime first
degree entrants US actual outcomes bachelor
degree graduates in BPS 96/01 cohort (col. 1-3)
and NELS92/00 cohort (col. 4)
29
Who are the US students who depart from the path
of continuous and fulltime study?
30
What are the benefits of greater flexibility in
progression? Wider access for non-traditional
students
31
At the cost of lowering completion rates

• What might US completion rates be if its
  university system were organized like that of
  England, where
• Students begin at university
• Enter directly onto a three-year degree course
• Study on a continuous and fulltime basis?
• National Educational Longitudinal Study,
  1992-2000.
• Select students who exclusively attended a
  four-year institution
• Who progressed far enough to enter their course
  (30 credits)
• Who study on a fulltime and continuous basis
  (time to degree for those who did not change
  course 4.08 years, indicating fulltime and
  continuous study)
• Result Completion rate 83.5 percent

32
Do the benefits of increased access for
non-traditional students outweigh the
costs--given they are at greater risk not to
complete?

• Benefits?
• US completion is best, but something is better
  than nothing. Supported by research on wage
  returns to schooling. Why? a culture of credit
  accumulation and modularization study is
  divisible, not unitary
• England nothing is better than something. IFS
  study of mens wages. Why? No culture of credit
  and module the course" is unitary.
• Costs?
• US opportunity any willing student, any promise
  of success substantial focus on those who might
  succeed but dont attend
• England unrestricted entry and a second chance
  not native to university tradition or social
  democratic tradition.

33
What can we learn from one another?

• For the US
• The US may have more to learn from Scotland than
  from England, owing to some important
  similarities and shared concerns (e.g. student
  progression from FE to HE).
• The best opportunity for borrowing from England
  centres on HEFCEs benchmarking of performance
  indicators and its completion-related funding
  methodology.
• Changes to upper secondary education in England
  show that the alignment of upper secondary to
  university education plays an important role in
  students progressing to degree completion. Look
  to the recent experience in England, and to the
  working group on 14-19 education (Tomlinson).

34
For England? No answers, just questions.

• Do politicians, journalists, and the public have
  an evidence-based picture of higher education in
  England that reflects the range of student
  experience within higher educationas opposed to
  fulltime honours degree education? And, even for
  honours degree students, can an information
  system that relies almost exclusively upon
  student record data provide a sufficient picture
  of their experience as students?
• Can England succeed in widening participation, as
  opposed to increasing participation, while at the
  same time maintaining government policies and
  university practices that support an elite model
  of progression that is continuous, intensive, and
  exclusive of other obligations? Given the
  propensity of some students to finance their
  education from current earnings rather than
  borrowing, can a funding system that relies
  increasingly upon student financing remain wedded
  to a traditional model of study?

35
Questions, continued

• Can the English universities that want to adapt
  to the needs of non-traditional students
  successfully do so within a policy framework and
  a larger university culture that is committed to
  the maintenance of an elite model of progression
  and to a unitary system of university education?
  
• Is a unitary and (partially) elite system of
  university education possible? Englands unitary
  and elite system of university education was
  based upon (1) a common unit of resource across
  institutions, coupled with no (or, flat) tuition
  fees and similar amenities across institutions
  (save Oxbridge) (2) an examination system that
  yielded common levels of ability and achievement
  among entering students (3) a national pay scale
  and common appointment procedures (4) a
  restrictive policy on university title and (5) a
  common degree classification and standards
  supported by external examination and quality
  assurance (Trow, 1987).
• How many of these conditions remain, or are
  likely to remain by the end of this decade?