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Universities ‘failing to mark down students’ for poor writing skills

Universities

Universities ‘failing to mark down students’ for poor writing skills

Universities and colleges are failing to mark down students for poor spelling, grammar and punctuation, which is leading to grade inflation because of a misguided application of equalities legislation, according to England’s higher education regulator.

After a review of assessment policies at five institutions, the Office for Students (OfS) said it feared that staff being allowed to ignore errors in students’ written work was “widespread”. It warned that it was willing to punish universities for failing to tackle poor writing skills.

The review follows cases this year of institutions using “inclusive assessment” policies more widely, and only taking quality of writing into account in courses where it was deemed to be critical, leading to condemnation from ministers.

Susan Lapworth, the OfS’s director of regulation, said: “The common features we have seen in assessment policies suggest that poor spelling, punctuation and grammar may be accepted across the sector. In publishing this report, we are being clear with universities and colleges that we want to see change.

“Effective assessment should take into account all aspects of a student’s work, and this includes their ability to express themselves effectively and correctly in written English.”

The OfS said its inspectors “analysed examples of assessed student work from a range of modules and disciplines”, along with marking criteria and staff comments, to identify how “language accuracy” was being assessed in practice.

It said it found “common themes that gave us cause for regulatory concern”, including interpretations of the Equality Act and similar legislation made by several universities to justify not assessing proficiency in written English for all students.

“As a consequence, it appears that accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar is not assessed for many students at these providers, and in some cases its assessment is explicitly not permitted.

“Compliance with this legislation does not in our view justify removing assessment of written proficiency in English for all students,” the OfS stated.

“We would expect providers to assess spelling, punctuation and grammar for most students and courses.”

The regulator also suggested that poor assessment practices “could be an indicator of wider concerns” about institutions, with low standards partly behind the increasing proportion of top class degrees being awarded.

“If the policies and approaches identified in this report are leading to students getting higher marks than they otherwise would, for instance because poor proficiency in written English is not being routinely assessed, then this not only undermines the rigour of assessment processes, but also contributes to unexplained grade inflation,” the review said.

The OfS added that it would “test this hypothesis” through further investigation.

However, critics said the OfS’s review of five case studies was too narrow and that such assessment policies were unlikely to be widespread among the more than 400 institutions registered with the regulator.

Universities UK, which represents more than 140 mainstream higher education institutions, said: “Universities fully recognise the importance of English language proficiency and effective communication skills. Their courses and assessments are designed to assess a wide range of skills and knowledge.

“As the OfS notes, this report refers to a small number of universities. The OfS also recognises that practices will differ across the large and diverse university sector, and there is no evidence in what has been presented to suggest the practices causing concern are the norm.”

Michelle Donelan, the universities minister for England, said: “The government is determined to drive up standards at universities so that every student can benefit from a quality education which leads to good outcomes, and it is right that the Office for Students is putting universities that disregard poor written English on notice.”

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Education

We spent over N23bn in funding research over Nigeria — TETFund

The Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFund, says it has spent over N23 billion to fund 912 research projects across the country.

TETFund’s Assistant Director, Research and Development, R&D, Dr. Hadiza Ismail, revealed this at a validation workshop on “Strengthening Research and Innovation Funding Agencies in West Africa,” in Abuja on Monday, March 25.

Ismail said the agency was fully committed to the establishment of a science granting council in Nigeria.

She said:  “So far, the Fund has spent over N23 billion on about 912 research projects that have been sponsored.

“But that also gives us an insight into the need for this workshop and what we are actually talking about. Despite the fact that we have given grants to over 900 projects, we want to see how we can link these research projects to industry and get viable outcomes at the end of the day to help Nigeria move forward.

On his part, Executive Director, African Technology Policy Studies, ATPS, Network, Professor Nicholas Ozor, said the workshop was aimed at giving momentum to a project designed to strengthen national research councils in six West African countries.

He said: “Nigeria specifically has an issue currently because they do not yet have a well-recognized national research and innovation funding agency.”

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Education

Unpaid Allowances: SSANU and NASU end warning strike

Members of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff Union (NASU), have called off their seven-day warning strike.

In a circular to branch chairmen at public universities all over the coutry, SSANU President, Mohammed Ibrahim, directed SSANU and NASU members to resume work from Monday, March 25, 2024.

The two unions began a seven-day warning strike on Monday, March 18, 2024 over withheld salaries with workers in registry, bursary, works and maintenance, security, and students’ affairs withdrawing their services.

Both SSANU and NASU are protesting withheld salaries by the Federal Government. The two unions berated the Federal Government for paying withheld salaries to the Academic Staff Union of Universities  (ASUU) while neglecting the non-academic unions.

All the unions had embarked on an eight-month strike in 2022 to press home some of their demands including a better welfare package.

The administration of then President Muhammadu Buhari subsequently invoked a ‘No Work, No Pay policy’ against the unions but President Bola Tinubu last October approved the release of four of the eight months withheld salaries.

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Education

JAMB extends direct entry registration by two weeks

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB, says it has extended the 2024 Direct Entry (DE) registration by two weeks.

A statement by JAMB’s Public Communication Advisor, Fabian Benjamin, said the extension is to enable all candidates desirous of Direct Entry registration to do so.

DAILY POST recalls that the Board commenced the 2024 Direct Entry on Wednesday, 28th February, 2024, and was to have concluded it on Thursday, 28th March, 2024, but on subsequent consideration, has now extended the exercise by two weeks from Wednesday, 28th March, 2024.

Consequently, the registration will close on Thursday, 11th April, 2024.

According to the statement, the extension became necessary following the challenges faced by candidates in going through some of the security screening measures put in place to tackle the cases of fake A’level certificates being paraded by some DE candidates.

The Board, therefore, apologized for the inconveniences caused, pledging that going forward, the process would be made more user-friendly.

JAMB, however, said it will not compromise on its determination to ensure that candidates, whose certificates were dubiously acquired, were prevented from benefiting from such certificates.

It added that candidates whose certificate-issuing institutions are among those on the list of institutions that have not verified their certificates despite repeated requests, would be allowed to register.

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