Industry News
Students asked to sign behaviour contracts
Posted on 16th April 2008
A number of universities are considering introducing contracts dictating students' expected work ethic and how they should dress.
The legislative documents will have to be signed by students before they commence their studies.
Some of the documents run into ten pages of legal terms and conditions, with clauses that include housing accommodation, finance, behavioural policies and disciplinary procedures and student use of supplied computers.
However, an independent adjudicator for higher education has spoken out against the plans, saying that teenagers do not know what they are signing up to.
Baroness Ruth Deech said in the adjudicators' annual report: "Our view on balance is that the student contract is not a good thing. It is useful to let students know they have to work hard but I think the contract is too legalistic."
The Baroness said that in one contract she had looked at a university had laid out how students should dress when attending lectures.
President of Universities UK Rick Trainor told the BBC that a recent survey had: "found the sector as a whole was cautious about the use of formal legal documents and their potential difficulties".