The Culture of Higher Education in the UK

United Kingdom (UK) is one of the major destinations for our higher education since colonial period. We all know prominent figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Michael Madhusudan Dutt and many others went to the UK from this region for their higher education and career. At that time, people returned from the UK after ending their education were called as “Bilet Ferot” which dignified their social status. Still, the trend remains the same due to world-class education, high quality of graduates, good employability rate, standard research, famous teachers including Nobel laureates, top-ranked universities etc.

Apart from these, the overall educational environment distinguishes UK from Bangladesh. One can get real flavor of education from here which we don’t usually get in our country due to many factors. However, during my short stay in the UK for higher educational purpose, I noticed some unique characteristics of their higher education. Nevertheless, those may be negligible in the eye of others but all of them contributed to reach today’s standard together. Let I share some of my academic and non-academic experiences of UK’s higher education.

Students’ Union: Each and every universities of UK must have a students’ union. It is the rule to set up a university and they can’t imagine a university without having students’ union activity. There is no formal political activity inside the university, but the students would be able to uphold their interest through the union. Students’ union is mainly responsible to represent students in decision-making process. Every year there will be an election to elect the executive body. The union generally negotiates to protect the interest of the students with the university. In addition, they also operate various surveys about the services of the university and the union as well. Often, they organize various skill development programmes for the students. There are also union shops where students may employ as a part-time worker.  Further, there are various societies under the union where students can join according to their choice. There will be one annual general meeting and other meetings where general students can cast their vote to pass any resolution.

Academic Affairs: From whole semester’s class schedule to exam date, everything is well designed and preplanned in the UK. Typically most of the study materials are uploaded at the beginning of the semester on the university’s distinct learning portal. There are clear policies everywhere like exam policy, students’ leave policy, exam exonerating policy, pregnancy policy, what may constitute academic misconduct etc. Students are expected to learn the materials earlier and participate in class. Everything is well informed in advance and every opportunity is equal to all. In addition, all the examinations are not only written rather it varies on the nature of the module. However, module representatives will get formal recognition after successful completion of their responsibilities throughout the course. Apart from the teachers’ evaluation at the end of the semester, the module representative together with the module coordinator needs to prepare a students’ feedback report on the basis of the feedback given by the students and further decisions relating to improvement of that module will be taken on the basis of that.

Use of Email: Every student has official email address and all university communications will be made through that address. Additionally, every student has a personal tutor who will primarily responsible to deal with all academic aspects of that student. However, if anybody needs to consult any teacher beyond class hour, then s/he has to create an appointment with that teacher via email earlier. Unlike Bangladesh, once the appointment has been created, the teacher will maintain the schedule except any inconvenience occurs at that time. In that case, s/he normally seek apology and offer another time. Teachers are very friendly and cooperative in solving academic matters here as there are separate divisions to deal with financial, emotional and employment matters. Additionally, they are very timely and responsible in class.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is regarded as serious academic misconduct and punishment of which may range from warning to expulsion from the university depending on the gravity. All academic works must be tested by plagiarism detecting software before submission.

Accommodation: There are two types of accommodation i.e. on campus and off campus run under the university authority. These accommodations can also be divided into many categories e.g. undergraduate accommodation, postgraduate accommodation, family accommodation, male, female, mixed, non-alcoholic, non-smoking etc. However, male and female can reside in same house in UK students’ accommodation. The living environment is very quiet and calm, and none can create any nuisance that may disturb others. If anyone makes any complaint or if anybody infringes any condition like smoking in the room, late night party without authorization, living with guest etc. then the authority will take action which may lead to cancellation of accommodation. The houses are furnished with furniture and necessary electronic machineries including washing machine, refrigerator, microwave oven, vacuum cleaner etc. Each room is allotted to one student only for a fixed tenure according to course duration. So, there is no scope of stay beyond. However, accommodation services often conduct survey about the satisfaction of the resident and response reasonably while making any complaint to them.

Thanks and sorry: You shall listen these couple of terms so many times in a day in the UK. That is why they are regarded as most civilized nation all over the world. Everybody will tell you thank you after every event and if somebody is not able to assist you, s/he will start the sentence with I’m wondering/I’m afraid instead of directly saying you sorry. Moreover, in that event, that person approaches you in such a way that you’ll rather feel embarrass for his/her inability to do so. Another interesting thing is when someone enter into a room and sees you are coming to that room, s/he will keep the door open until your entrance. This is a normal courtesy to them.

Harassment: The university takes any kind of harassment including bullying, sexual harassment, racist uttering etc. very seriously. Both the university and union are doing survey on it regularly and these are handled very sensitively. That is why no teacher is allowed to involve with any kind of emotional relationship with the students during their studentship. Likewise, students are also not allowed to take part in any kind of violent activity. However, pet and kiss are common phenomena in this country. Any person normally can kiss his/her loving one anywhere.

All these little attributes together contribute to enhance the quality of higher education in the UK and still they can attract the students around the globe to go there. Nevertheless, higher education is also a big business there, hence they are very conscious to maintain the standard.

 Published on the Daily Observer (Young Observer) on 11 January 2018