Job cuts, growing class sizes and crippling workloads appear to be changing the relationship between academics and their students, with fears that?lecturers know next to nothing about those taking their classes.

Most institutions have responded to the financial strain in the UK sector by cutting staff numbers and trying to increase student recruitment, which vice-chancellors have said will inevitably mean higher staff-student ratios.

There were early signs this was having an impact in the annual , recently published by Advance HE and the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi).

In a new question, students were asked how many academics know their names and have some idea of the progress they are making on their course. While only 7 per cent said they felt no staff knew who they were, 42 per cent of students said that only one to three?academics could name them.

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Just a third (33 per cent) said that this was true of four to six academics, which authors said should be a ¡°reasonable expectation¡±, given students can take on average four 30-credit courses a year.

It was ¡°inevitable that there will be more strain and less time for individual students if there are fewer academics per student¡±, said Rose Stephenson, director of policy and advocacy at Hepi, who co-authored?the study.

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Glen O¡¯Hara, professor of modern and contemporary history at Oxford Brookes University, agreed, blaming ¡°hard recruiters¡± that are ¡°piling students higher and higher¡±, meaning ¡°you just can¡¯t possibly know everyone when you¡¯ve got a seminar of around 50 people¡±.

UK higher education has traditionally tried to follow the Oxbridge model of small tutorials while more recent innovations such as the ¡°flipped classroom¡± have also placed much importance on seminar-based discussion between the academic and their students, pointed out Harriet Dunbar-Morris, pro vice-chancellor academic and provost at the University of Buckingham.

She said that while Buckingham still focuses on providing small group teaching, in universities that have a greater focus on large lectures and bigger course and class sizes, there was little chance academics were going to be able to learn ¡°300 names¡±.?

¡°If you don¡¯t know who¡¯s in your classroom and you don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on in their lives, you don¡¯t know how they¡¯re doing, whether they¡¯re really struggling, and whether their marks are going up or down¡­then you can¡¯t help them with their educational journey.¡±

Dunbar-Morris added that: ¡°I think everybody loses if academics don¡¯t know their students and the students don¡¯t know their academics. Everybody feels less engaged, in the success of the students and the institution.¡±

This also results in a loss of ¡°emotional connectivity¡± and a feeling of ¡°being listened to¡± for students, which is important in building confidence, said O¡¯Hara, which contributes to an overall lack of ¡°feeling that you¡¯re part of a community¡±.

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For many academics, the disconnect was adding to a sense of disillusionment that many feel towards the sector, said O¡¯Hara.

¡°I think academics are going through a kind of existential crisis,¡± O¡¯Hara said, explaining that many thought they were entering a ¡°state-governed education service¡± where they would be engaging intellectually with students. ¡°But it turns out that they were joining a sector where you¡¯ve got to bid for four, six-figure grants every year, or you¡¯ll get told: ¡®we¡¯ll demote you¡¯¡±.

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Stephenson said the issue was a ¡°political choice¡±, and the government needed to have ¡°more straightforward conversations about the impact that funding and efficiency drives will have on the student experience, including the time that they will get to spend and discuss with academic colleagues¡±.?

Despite the financial strains, Dunbar-Morris said there are ways that universities can try to maintain these relationships even when staff cuts are occurring, and be more creative with the resources available to them.

Online tools can be used to develop an academic community, and she said that when she was at a previous institution with bigger class sizes, a personal tutor system was developed to boost engagement with students.

If the financial crisis continues, O¡¯Hara expects the UK system to?more closely?resemble?models found in other countries, with a ¡°very small core of traditional universities that offer this kind of humanistic, pastoral¡± education, while ¡°everyone else goes to the local college¡±.

The UK has had ¡°such a high quality of education¡±, and it is now ¡°coming down from that to a more normal university model¡±.?

¡°I still have two hours a week of office hours¡­that¡¯s not an internationally recognised level. That¡¯s unusually good, and we¡¯re degrading that,¡± O¡¯Hara said.

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juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com