Consumer law and the University website
On 23 October 2015, Which? published a preliminary report on information provided on 50 university websites for prospective psychology students. They assessed whether they provided information such as:
- entry requirements
- core modules
- contact hours and workload
- staff qualifications
- course accreditation
- assessment method
- course location and length
- fees and additional costs
It was found that around two-thirds of universities failed to provide latest information on course fees. Four in five failed to provide clear details of any further fees required to complete the course. It was concluded that all universities need to make information easily available and accessible for prospective students.
The Which? report is very timely as we start to work on improving information for postgraduate taught students. For example, the newly redesigned web page for the Economics MSc course demonstrates how we are setting a new standard for providing clear information for prospective students. For the first time, this information is found in one place and doesn’t require students to go to other parts of the University website to fill in the blanks.
We also have clear information on the new postgraduate pages to comply with the Consumer Protection Legislation that requires universities to give clear information about potential course changes and tuition fees.
In the coming months we will continue to use this approach to publish all postgraduate taught courses on the university website. This will allow us to comply with consumer law, but more importantly it improves the user experience for our prospective students.