One of the big differences in the transition to university is in the nature of the teaching process — in general there’s far less formal teaching at university than at school, and students are more likely to be left to their own devices. So it can come as a shock to find how little contact there can be with teachers and the extent to which students are left alone to get on with their work.

Research that we conducted at the Higher Eduction Policy Institute (HEPI) think-tank shows that this varies greatly between universities and between courses, and even in the same subject between universities. Not only the amount of contact, but also the overall demands made by the university — how hard you have to work. In some subjects you have to work far harder than others — in medicine and laboratory subjects, students see more of their teachers but they also study more overall. (But these are also the subjects in which, on average, graduates are paid the most, so it’s not as unfair as it may seem.) Here too there can be variations between universities. And we also found that in some subjects students were far more likely to skip classes than in others.

But the surprising — indeed shocking — thing is that within the same subject, practices can vary greatly between universities. For example, in history, students at one university typically studied 39 hours compared to an average in all universities of 21 hours. The problem is that such information is very hard to come by, and so it is not surprising if applicants to university do not take it into account — they are simply unable to do so.

There have, however, been well-publicised cases recently about students complaining about the amount of “contact” with teachers, and the more publicity there is about this, the better. This is an important consideration worth investigating before choosing a course.

Multimedia

• The Times University Guide table

Multimedia

• Good University Guide Map

Even if you are able to find out, what should you make of the fact that a course in one university provides less contact than a similar course in another, or that one university requires less overall study time than another? Taking the second point first: it might seem great that it is possible to obtain a degree with less effort than somebody at a different university. On the other hand, unless you think that the studying that is done at university is a waste of time, then you may feel that you are being short-changed if your course is not particularly demanding.

It would be wrong to assume, though, that more contact with teachers means better teaching or better outcomes. The amount of contact varies according to teaching style, the ability and inclinations of the student and the nature of the course (those with a large amount of factual information are likely to require more formal teaching). At HEPI, our surveys have shown that up to a certain point students actually prefer to have less teaching, not more.

You also need to be aware of the large differences in the amount of informal contacts that students can have with academic staff - and surveys of students show that this is something they value the most.

We have also uncovered large differences in the sizes of the groups in which students are taught and in the amount of teaching done by non-academics. Surprisingly, up to a quarter of seminars in some universities are run by graduate students — it is unlikely that many students signed up for those courses knowing about that.

Until recently there has been little information about such matters. But universities are increasingly becoming more open; in some cases — Lancaster University and the London School of Economics are well-publicised recent examples — universities are going as far as to provide this information in their prospectuses and course documentation. They are also being more explicit about what they expect of their students — sometimes even asking students to sign a quasi-contract: in return for a promise about how much teaching you will get, who teaches you, the size of groups, and so on, you promise to put in a certain amount of effort.

If some universities can do that, there is no reason why all shouldn’t, and the pressure is now on others to follow this good practice. And if you find that the university you are thinking about does not provide this information, do not be afraid to ask. Some students prefer formal teaching; others prefer to be given direction and left to get on with it. You need to know the style of the course and what to expect. It doesn’t mean that you are behaving like a consumer and treating university as a commodity. In fact, it is surprising that universities have not addressed these questions before.

The writer is Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute

Times recommends

• Students face big rise in university fees
• Students to rate lecturers online
• Lord heads team to look at raising tuition fees