Advertisement

It's time to debunk the myth surrounding two-year degrees

two year degrees  - PA
two year degrees - PA

Plans to roll out two-year degrees, unveiled by the universities minister this weekend, is welcome news indeed.  Two-year degrees will not suit all undergraduates, of course, but they are a cheaper and better option for many, including mature students and undergraduates of all ages eager to forge ahead and get a degree without the vast acres of free time afforded to those in a three year degree.

Many people would be shocked if they realised that approximately a year and a half of that three-year degree is spent away from the university, on holidays.

To achieve an undergraduate degree requires some 78 weeks of study. The three-year model just means that students spend an astonishing year and a half on holidays.

If well used, this can allow for reading around the subject, experience-enriching travel and work experience. But many students feel that the holidays are much too long, they cannot find satisfying holiday work.

They find it unsettling to have to move back home and they miss their university friends. The excitement of the long vacation does begin to pale and can even lead to some being depressed.

two-year degrees
two-year degrees

In a two-year, accelerated degree programme, students spend the same 78 weeks studying, but have just 26 weeks of holiday, which equates to 13 weeks a year. This might not sound long to some, but it is very similar to what students have been used to at school, and we have to remind them that it is far longer than the holiday time which they will enjoy once they start work.

Students on two-year programmes pay a year less for accommodation and living costs, and start working or further training (to be a journalist, solicitor, accountant, lawyer or chartered psychologist, for example) a year earlier. A significant number go on to do Masters which means they come out with two degrees in the same time others have taken to study for one. But the benefits are far more than just financial.

Many degree subjects benefit from intensive study, and the long holidays can be a serious disadvantage to the accumulation of knowledge and studying. The condensed two-year programme can give a far better approximation to life at work, while still providing enough holiday time for relaxation and reading. Students can forge friendships that last all year round on two-year programmes.

They do work placements and jobs just like those at other universities so they do not miss out. There may also be the opportunity to do a work placement year over three years rather than four.  The traditional universities inevitably have been no friends to two-year degrees.

Offering such programmes will involve major contractual changes to staff and use of university facilities. Their principle objections to the degrees is without substance: that they will result in diminution of the quality of learning and student experience.

My own institution, the University of Buckingham, began offering two-year degrees when it was set up more than 40 years ago. Doing a degree in two years is the norm (except in our Medical School.) Buckingham has come first in the country in the National Student Survey (NSS) scores for each of the last three years and was one of only 35 UK Universities to be awarded the top Gold rating in the first Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) this year.

Graduate employability Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) rankings are consistently above 90 per cent because employers are impressed that graduates have squeezed three years study into two years.

Students recognise that their careers and lives will change as they reach their 30s and 40s as technology, society and AI changes the way we work – their first bachelors’ degree is just that, the first stage in their post-18 learning journey.

Top 10 | Universities ranked 2016/2017
Top 10 | Universities ranked 2016/2017

Doing a two-year degree does not take up as much time so making it easier to do further studies or get into their first career as, with our fast-changing work environment, there’s every chance they will have a second later on.

It is perfectly possible for academic staff to undertake research just as they do at other universities. At Buckingham a system is in place enabling academic staff to have a sabbatical term in order to pursue their studies. Academic staff with young children, and anyone else, are still able to take leave at peak time, during school summer holidays, which fall in term time.

Two-year degrees are not for those who want to have a “doss year” during their first year. But it isn’t a qualification to race through – there is ample time for reflection and there is sufficient study time.

The course will not suit those who want to spend three months travelling during the summer. But many undergraduates on two-year programmes do find the time to travel extensively and do plenty of voluntary work during their course.

Jo Johnson, following hard on the heels of David Willetts, an equally innovative force in HE, is changing the face of British universities in the interests of the consumer, i.e. the students, but without sacrificing quality, which has propelled our university sector perhaps to the best in the world.

Extensive changes are coming to universities, and not a moment too soon. Students themselves, as well as the country, will be the beneficiaries.