NUS Scotland warns of Mandelson's two year-degree danger

The National Union of Students (NUS) has warned Scottish universities may be forced to introduce 'fast-track degrees', following Peter Mandelson's heavily criticised calls for two-year study programmes for universities in England.

English universities will be encouraged to offer students undergraduate honours degrees in two-years, but critics claim such measures will reduce the quality of degrees and take away from the full university experience.

NUS Scotland president, Liam Burns, told The Journal: "Reducing the time taken to complete a degree risks reducing the quality of the student experience.

"Going to university does so much more than just training someone for a job, and I believe moving to a more marketised and consumerist model in this way would reduce the standing of our universities and reduce the benefits students gain from going to university.

"The pressure on the Scottish government to follow this path would be strong if English universities do and it's therefore something we would certainly not encourage."

A recent report from Staffordshire University, one of seven universities where fast-track degrees have been piloted, has contradicted the critics, saying students on shorter degrees are likely to outperform their peers on three-year courses by an average of two-thirds of a degree classification.

The findings also suggest students on short degrees are more interested in their courses and are less likely to adopt a memorising approach to learning.

Estimates suggest that English students could save up to £20,000 on fees, and the government hopes the programme will help cut the cost of higher education as well as attract a wider range of people to higher education.

The financial burden, however, lies with the universities who will have to provide the same courses on smaller tuition fees, as well as finance the added structural and administrative constraints that come with such a change.

Dr Pat McLaughlin, head of the University of Edinburgh School of Education, told The Journal he would not currently recommend fast-track programmes at the university, saying: "There is at present very little research on the effectiveness of two-year degrees, apart from that produced by those Universities that currently offer such programmes, or on the likely demand for these degrees.

"If these fast-track options proved popular they might have an effect on the attractiveness of the Scottish four-year degree and, therefore, on undergraduate recruitment.

"However, there is already a one-year difference in the period of study and this does not appear to have a significant impact on recruitment."

Dr McLaughlin added, "In 2008 the Higher Education Statistics Agency reported that university leavers from Scottish HEIs were more likely to gain a first-class honours degree than those from other areas of the UK.

"Universities Scotland claimed that one of the factors in these results is that the Scottish four-year degree gives students more time to develop."

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government said that "the length and content of degrees in Scotland are matters for universities, not Scottish government ministers."

The plans for shorter university degrees come as part of the UK government's overall plan to cut university funding by £398m for 2010-11 in England and Wales.