Useless degrees

And this is key – students have become customers, essentially. The ideal of a free-play of ideas, or of a space where you can be intellectually stimulated by proximity to discussion at the highest level about your subject, everything – all of it becomes subordinate to the commercial transaction model. They want certain things in return for their cash, and will agitate if they don't get them. Attention's one of the things they want, and fair enough. The problem comes, though, when what they want is a good mark, but they don't deserve one.

Not so, actually.

At least not in UAL. Tutors are treated like students, and the students are just the people who provide the money. We are definitely not treated like customers.

We are treated as an unfortunate side-effect of the degree, rather than it's raison d'être, by the administration at least.