8.2 Student collusion It would be reasonable to expect students to raise objections to the diversion of money that is nominally destined to support their education, towards other purposes. Their attitudes to this, however, were curiously passive. There are some possible explanations. Brown attributes this, not so much to the classic economic concept of economic asymmetry, where one side has more relevant information than the other; but to an information void, where students make choices without either relevant knowledge or understanding of their power, and use indirect or symbolic indicators of quality to make these choices. Chief amongst these are the interlinked marques of prestige, reputation and status (Brown 2013, p124). Students value their university’s prestige. This is an important component of their choice to apply to that university in the first instance, and it is in their interest to continue to support prestige-building activities. Course and course content are the most important factors influencing the decisions of all groups of students, but after that high achievers applying to the most selective universities tended to base their decisions on its prestige and academic excellence and had a greater belief in their own competence than other high-achievers. Their decisions were strongly influenced by league tables, academic reputation and the idea of challenging themselves (Sutton Trust 2012). Even when research is remote from their university experience, students understand that research achievement is beneficial to their own aspirations. For example, it is widely held that employers tend to recruit from a fairly narrow range of top-ranked (i.e. research-intensive) universities (see, for example, Milburn 2012).
8.2 Student collusion It would be reasonable to expect students to raise objections to the diversion of money that is nominally destined to support their education, towards other purposes. Their attitudes to this, however, were curiously passive. There are some possible explanations. Brown attributes this, not so much to the classic economic concept of economic asymmetry, where one side has more relevant information than the other; but to an information void, where students make choices without either relevant knowledge or understanding of their power, and use indirect or symbolic indicators of quality to make these choices. Chief amongst these are the interlinked marques of prestige, reputation and status (Brown 2013, p124). Students value their university’s prestige. This is an important component of their choice to apply to that university in the first instance, and it is in their interest to continue to support prestige-building activities. Course and course content are the most important factors influencing the decisions of all groups of students, but after that high achievers applying to the most selective universities tended to base their decisions on its prestige and academic excellence and had a greater belief in their own competence than other high-achievers. Their decisions were strongly influenced by league tables, academic reputation and the idea of challenging themselves (Sutton Trust 2012). Even when research is remote from their university experience, students understand that research achievement is beneficial to their own aspirations. For example, it is widely held that employers tend to recruit from a fairly narrow range of top-ranked (i.e. research-intensive) universities (see, for example, Milburn 2012).
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