<< News >> Degrees for Bournemouth Archaeology students who mix up Neolithic and Mesolithic
Submitted by Andy B on Sunday, 28 February 2010 Page Views: 7197
Neolithic and Bronze AgeCountry: England The university professor who stood up against dumbing down of degrees. When Professor Paul Buckland settled down in his garden one summer's evening to mark exam papers from his second-year archaeology students, he was expecting the usual range of responses. But it soon became clear that the scripts had plummeted to new depths of ignorance.In one paper, the decline of elm trees was attributed to diseases passed on by dogs. Next, a student explained that the volcanic eruption in Pompeii had "changed the pattern of human evolution". By the time he read that farming caused smaller jaws in humans, his head was practically in his hands.
The professor failed 18 out of the 60 papers he marked. And that was where his problems began.
For three years, the academic has been embroiled in a conflict with Bournemouth University over its decision to overule his professional judgment on the standard of his students' work and increase their scores.
The battle has effectively ruined his career. At the lowest point, Professor Buckland was even forced to ask his 89-year-old father for financial help.
But last week, a decision by the Court of Appeal hopefully marked the end of his ordeal. To the academic's immense relief, the court upheld his contention that the south-coast university raised the grades of weak students without his knowledge, and that his resignation, when it refused to reinstate his marks, amounted to constructive dismissal.
But the 62-year-old's nightmare has also cast light on a more widespread issue that vice-chancellors steadfastly refuse to acknowledge. According to Professor Buckland, a battle for standards is raging within parts of the UK higher education sector.
On one side are academics anxious to maintain quality and control over the courses they teach. On the other are managers, generally in newer institutions, who regard students as pots of cash and care more about recruitment and drop-out rates than ensuring that students' marks reflect the work they do.
"The implications go way beyond Bournemouth," said Professor Buckland. "Before last week's ruling, the message sent out to universities was that you could bully staff into upping grades – 'if you don't give the marks we want, we'll get someone else to do it for us' – which is what happened to me."
The saga began in 2006 when his department decided to remark the papers the professor had failed – 14 after students had resat – even though a second marker endorsed his scores, as did the external examiner. On the basis of this fourth assessment, scores were increased by up to six percentage points, moving several students from a clear fail to a pass.
These were students, the professor said, who after two years of an archaeology degree did not know if the mesolithic age came before or after the neolithic.
"The papers were farmed out to someone who didn't have the necessary expertise and it was all done behind my back," said Professor Buckland, who lives in Sheffield with his wife, Joan.
"It makes a mockery of the entire system if the relevant expert in the field is not allowed to return the marks. We get students who have to work damned hard to get their degree. Then there are students who just drift through, spend most of their times in bars, being given the same degree. It's an insult to the people who have worked hard."
Read More in The Telegraph
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