Useless degrees

As I mentioned above, in my subject, there are (I think) three departments in the country that have a tutorial system. This means that instead of contact with faculty members being limited to seminars/lectures/the odd dissertation consultation, each student gets one hour alone with their tutor once a week or fortnight to discuss each tutorial essay in depth. This is a marvellous system: the amount of attention the student gets no longer depends on their articulacy, or willingness to put themselves forward in seminars; it no longer privileges the arrogant, or the cocky, or even the clever ones. But it does of course also result in a far greater teaching burden than where it doesn't exist, so most departments wouldn't dream of implementing it: and this resistance is in part because in addition to their teaching load academics are expected to publish, publish, publish. Publications, which means research outwith the department, are the direct means to a good RAE rating for the department – which equals money.

So perhaps the monetary rewards should come from the assessment of the quality of teaching, rather than the amount of publications. Obviously the question is how though, as always.

We get tutorials on my course, once a term. The problem I have with them is that because that tutorial will be one of 3 or 4 occasions that term where I'll see my tutor, he/she will have very little of any use say. But this is because fine art has different demands than english, of course. And is also less profitable, hence the ridiculous student-tutor contact times in 1st and 2nd year.

My course could in fact be condensed into 1 year, in terms of the amount of contact with staff. If they had any balls they would leave us completely on our own for 2 years, but the fact is they simply do not give a shit about us, at all.