“The invisible, unpaid hours make adjunct teaching untenable and lead to high teacher turnover.
If total pay for a 15-hour course of 40 students at 80€/hour is 1,200€, estimate 25 unpaid hours of class preparation, grading with feedback, student & administrative emails, occasional catch-up exams and teacher meetings, this becomes 30€/hour, before taxes.
Universities that attract and keep quality teachers understand what really attracts teachers to the profession.”
– Teacher
- Recruit the best teachers in higher education. Recruit the best students for internships and work-study programs 83
“Managing course grading and student feedback is typically ‘included in the hourly teaching rate.’ However students are increasingly asking for precise feedback on their grades.
This is understandable, but giving unique and specific feedback for each student on each assignment is very time consuming and there is not enough time in class.
If students want personalized teacher feedback, and universities want teachers to improve student satisfaction, then universities need to add a payroll component that reflects this extra work.”
– Teacher
- Recruit the best teachers in higher education. Recruit the best students for internships and work-study programs 82
“There is not enough content convergence with other teachers.”
-Teachers
“There is too much content convergence and course overlap. The same course shouldn’t be repeated again year after year. Multiple courses could easily be combined into one.”
-Students
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“Teachers should include graded and non-graded exercises to challenge us students without putting pressure on us. Let us learn and make mistakes without fear of failing.
Structure classes to promote interaction rather than trying to force it; especially during remote classes.”
– Student
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“The French government now requirements universities make public student satisfaction rates. Obviously, this rating determines future student enrolment.
We now actively monitor student satisfaction for every single one of our teachers, from semester to semester, and take it very seriously.
Students have stated that their teachers have, in class, openly insulted university administration.
How do we justify working with teachers with low student satisfaction, knowing the damage it does to future enrolment?”
– Teacher Recruiter
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“Universities must consider the personal and professional lives of us students and not only the teacher’s when scheduling classes.
Don’t change class times at the last moment, and keep us students informed of absent teachers more quickly so we can organize our time.
Schedule classes at normal working hours, not late into the night. Respect our employment schedules, travel times and personal lives.
Either book full days on campus or full days remote. Stop booking a distance course and a face-to-face course 10 minutes later. Especially when there’s nowhere quiet on campus for us students to go for the remote class.”
– Student
- Recruit the best teachers in higher education. Recruit the best students for internships and work-study programs 78
“Universities must enforce stricter student entrance selection. English-only programs should not allow students who cannot speak English; they slow the class down for the rest of us.
Universities must not accept so many students if they do not have the facilities or know how to manage them.”
– Student
- Recruit the best teachers in higher education. Recruit the best students for internships and work-study programs 77
“Teachers must design a more detailed syllabus which clearly sets expectations, explains course prerequisites, project expectations, submission deadlines and grading. Each syllabus must also include a more in-depth teacher profile so we students can research them.
Universities must take greater control over the course content; content should not be solely at the teacher’s discretion.
Universities need to make the course program and syllabuses more readily available to us students at the beginning of the year.”
– Student
- Recruit the best teachers in higher education. Recruit the best students for internships and work-study programs 76
“Teachers must know how courses they teach fit into student program in order to situate theirs and explain it to the students.
Teachers should also know the courses of previous years on similar subjects, and the other courses in the same semester.
Teachers should work in collaboration with other teachers who have similar modules: coordinate transversal cases and assessments with other courses and teachers.”
– Program Director
- Recruit the best teachers in higher education. Recruit the best students for internships and work-study programs 75
“Universities must schedule classes to optimize student learning; the material does not spread over several months. It is very difficult for us students to remember course material when the last class took place months earlier.
But also don’t condense the lessons too much either. We students need time to think, digest and work on the class projects. Organize course deadlines so projects are evenly distributed throughout the semester and aren’t all due at the same time.”– Student
