Three in Four Universities 'Breach Law on Website Information'
Three in four universities are breaching consumer law by failing to provide prospective students with vital information on their websites such as information about tuition fees and the contact hours they will have with staff, according to a report.
An investigation by Which? found three institutions, Canterbury Christ Church University, Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Huddersfield, were consistently adopting unlawful practice by failing to provide more than 30% of the information required.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published advice in March setting out how consumer law applies to the higher education sector, including measures to ensure information is available to students so they can compare courses and make an informed choice.
But Which? said nearly two thirds (64%) of institutions failed to provide students with up-to-date information on course fees, and four in five (80%) did not state or provide clarity on any extra fees students may have to pay to complete the course.
Overall it found 76% of the 50 universities it looked at are breaching consumer law by failing to provide prospective students with vital information.
It pointed out that with undergraduate higher education fees averaging £8,900 a year in 2015/16 and students' overall average debt totalling more than £45,000, whether to go to university is the most significant financial decision many young people will take.
While no institution consistently provided good practice across all areas, Leeds Trinity University and University of Greenwich demonstrated good practice across a number of areas, the consumer watchdog said. This included details on the number of contact hours students can expect, the workload and assessments for their course and fees they will be expected to pay.
Which? said it had found the majority of students (75%) use a university's website or their prospectus to make their first and insurance choices with UCAS, and therefore some may not have been able to make a fully informed decision about their course choice.
The investigation involved analysis of the information available to prospective students for 2016/17 psychology courses across a third (50) of UK higher education institutions' websites.
The findings will be submitted to the CMA. Which? executive director Richard Lloyd said: "Students deserve to know at least the basics of what they can expect from a course before signing up, so it's disappointing to find that a large number of universities are still breaching consumer law.
"It's encouraging to see some providers demonstrating good practice, but we now need all universities to make better information easily available and accessible for prospective students.''