Regent College London’s business students filed complaints with the Office for Students.
Students of the prestigious private college that charges £9,250 a year were supervised by staff who showed videos and read out bullet points. An investigation revealed that one tutor held an online class on public transport.
Students of Regent College London told the Office for Students’ investigators that the tutors changed frequently, including one cover teaching staff who “arrived almost half an hour late” to host an online class and “was clearly travelling or in a public place.”
According to a report from the Office for Students, the students challenged the cover tutor. ” The cover tutor seemed to leave the teaching session, and the students haven’t heard anything from them since.”
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In a second-year course in 2023, “the tutor limited themselves to reading bullet points from PowerPoint slides and playing videos for the class to watch, without seeming to explain the ideas and concepts addressed. The videos played occupied most of the observed teaching time.
“In one class that ran for 45 minutes, videos were played for approximately 35 minutes, with the tutor reading from the slides for most of the remaining time.”
The Office for Students’ inquiry into the business management course disclosed student complaints, including inadequate teaching materials, broken chairs, and lack of support.
The report concluded that college’s courses were “often not up to date, not consistently effectively delivered, often lacked educational challenge and coherence, and often did not teach relevant skills”.
Regent College London is a private college registered under the name RTC Education Limited. Its advisory panel is chaired by the Conservative MP and former education secretary Gavin Williamson.
The chief executive and principal of Regent College London, Selva Pankaj, stated that the institution has “undertaken major reforms to address all areas of concern” since the investigation was conducted, including improved teaching standards.
Pankaj stated, “We acknowledge the concerns raised in the report, which were based on assessments conducted during the 2022-23 academic year—a period in which Regent College, like many institutions, was navigating the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The challenges of rapidly adapting to remote learning and fluctuating public health guidelines, combined with significant growth in student numbers, inevitably affected some aspects of our operations during this time.”
The OfS deputy director of quality, Jean Arnold, stated that the report revealed “significant concerns” in several areas.
Arnold stated, “Before taking any regulatory move, the OfS will examine closely at the assessment team’s results and consider the next steps in the investigation, which may include considering whether any regulatory action is appropriate.”
According to the investigators, tutors received bonuses if more than 85% of their students passed, and five weeks of a 15-week module were devoted to revision or test preparations. They also revealed 100% pass rates and reported one tutor telling students that they “try to make everybody pass.”.
The report also revealed that the revision duplicated lessons and repeated materials in one BSc business module. It was also reported some classes started late and finished earlier.
