Après un échec, si une institution a offert des mesures de remédiation, que l’étudiant les a suivi à la lettre, mais qu’il échoue tout de même, qui est responsable?
C’est la question que pose indirectement ce plan discuté à la University of West Scotland (UWS). La mesure ne s’appliquerait qu’aux étudiants étrangers (qui paient 10 000 livres de scolarité) et aux étudiants du reste du Royaume-Uni (7250 livres) puisque les étudiants écossais voient déjà leurs frais de scolarité payés par leur gouvernement. Craig Mahoney, principal de l’université explique:
“One possibility we are considering is introducing a rebate system. If you are admitted to UWS on the basis we only admit students with the potential to succeed, and then you fail to complete your degree having attended and participated in all the support and development opportunities we offer we will refund the tuition fee you have personally paid or taken a loan for.”
“In the global economy, the environment changes quickly and the magnitude of that change can be staggering. We cannot sit in our ivory towers, observing and imagining that we will be unaffected by the changes taking place around us.
“If you keep doing the things you’ve always done, you keep getting what you’ve always got and in the future that might not be enough.”
Il estime que les universités britanniques doivent devenir plus compétitives en commençant à traiter davantage les étudiants comme des clients dont il faut comprendre les besoins.
“It is my firm belief that the UK’s publicly-funded universities won’t have a particularly attractive future unless they become more commercially sensitive and begin to act more like private industry – including private higher education providers – to allow us to remain competitive across the globe.
“We have to acknowledge that students are customers and we have to meet customer expectations. To do that, we have to know who our customers are and understand their needs and desires.”
Un représentant d’associations étudiantes s’est dit curieux et ouvert face à l’initiative, mais est resté méfiant:
“We’d expect every university to consider more seriously how we best support all students to reach their full potential while ensuring we reject any notions of marketisation or seeing students as customers of a product.
[…]
“In addition, we’d be worried if this was simply a way to try and attract more fee-paying students while doing little for the outcomes of Scottish students.”
Mesure d’attractivité ou réelle responsabilisation face au mandat éducatif de l’université?
Sources:
Denholm, Andrew, “A first: Scots university plans fees refund for UK, overseas students who fail“, Herald Scotland, 29 janvier 2015
