British students 'are least hard-working in Europe'

By Richard Garner Education Editor

Published: 25 September 2007

Britain is in danger of losing its reputation for providing a world-class university education because its students work far fewer hours than students in the rest of Europe, a report published today warns.

Students on media studies courses are the least hard-working, spending less than 20 hours a week on their work, the report says, adding that women tend to work harder than men.

The report also shows that more than a quarter of the overseas students at all UK universities say they are getting "poor" value for money on their courses – possibly as a result of receiving far less tuition than their counterparts on the Continent, according to the report's authors.

The paper, written by the Higher Education Policy Institute think-tank, warns: "These are potentially very serious findings."

The figures show that students at English universities receive about 14 hours tuition a week and work for about 25.5 to 26 hours a week. This puts it at the bottom of a European league table, which places Portugal top, with students working 41 hours a week. After England, Spain is the country where students expend least effort, devoting an average of 29 hours a week to their work.

The report says: "There is real reason to doubt whether English degrees will be perceived as being of equivalent value to degrees from countries where the requirements on students are more onerous."

Those who spend the least time working are students on communications courses such as media studies with 19.4 hours a week. The longest hours at English universities are put in by veterinary students (37hours ) and those studying medicine and dentistry (35.5).

http://news.independent.co.uk/education/article2996102.ece