Universities 'need shift of emphasis'
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.UNIVERSITIES should shift staff and resources away from research towards new methods of teaching to cope with expanding student numbers, a group of university heads said yesterday, writes Donald Macleod.
Calling for a pounds 50m a year Teaching and Learning Board to be set up, the Committee of Scottish University Principals said that schemes to introduce new technology at universities were too small and uncoordinated.
The proposed board should foster teaching resources that could be shared between universities. It should also stimulate innovation in teaching and learning support.
The report, which seems likely to provoke hostility from a profession strongly wedded to research, will be considered by the higher education funding councils in England, Wales and Scotland.
Professor Alistair MacFarlane, Principal of Heriot-Watt University, said universities were doing too little, too slowly to tackle the 'formidable problem' of how to teach greatly increased numbers of students. 'We can't all split atoms or do radio astronomy, but we can all do something. A lot of people in universities should now start devoting their intellectual energies to high-quality teaching.' Teaching had for too long been a poor relation of research.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments