The Powershift Taking Place Within Education

Education is a huge financial investment, and at its fundamental core, the business model fuelling most universities and colleges is to provide education and facilities in return for a fee.  

Therefore, from a legal perspective, a student is in contract with their college, as a form of consumer contract - whereby the college is the provider of education and the student is a consumer of said education.

Historically, this dynamic has not felt so ‘student friendly’ where students have seen themselves as empowered consumers with legal rights, in a contract with a service provider - and that has served colleges and universities very well.  Indeed, due to the fiercely competitive process involved with applying for a prestigious course and the relief at being accepted; students often forget they are consumers with legal rights.

Universities and colleges are powerful and somewhat insular entities; they have their own codes of conduct, academic rules and regulations, membership rules and so on.  Whilst they are often self-regulated, to the point that internal matters such as disciplinary action and academic appeals are handled within the academic institution - it’s easy to forget they are still governed by the laws of the land and are in a somewhat onerous contract where the student is an often inexperienced and comparatively vulnerable ‘purchaser’ of education from an almost omnipotent supplier.

In recent times universities and colleges have hit the headlines as they are being exposed for “pushing their weight around” by students (particularly law students) that are becoming more and more empowered to take on their academic institution in a legal context.  There are more and more lawsuits being made against universities for causes of action ranging from inequality (i.e. discriminating against someone with a disability) to breach of contract (i.e. not fulfilling their end of the bargain) and misrepresentation (i.e. misrepresenting a particular course).

There seems to be a powershift in education, where more and more students are becoming independent litigator’s; and whilst some cases are clearly arising from a bruised ego or personal vendetta against an academic institution, many cases are being treated seriously and awarded significant damages within the courts.

If you are in a situation that requires legal advice you should consider booking an appointment with a qualified professional who is licensed to offer legal advice tailored to your specific situation and circumstances.  This article is merely a commentary on the power shift that is taking place within education.

Once upon a time, as represented in films such as Patch Adams, it was the institution that held all the power - and whilst prestigious institutions retain a huge amount of power over their students… today, with the rise in litigation and much more empowered consumers, academic institutions are having to start to tread much more carefully.  

Indeed, students are often made to feel like they have to go through the correct hoops, as if they don’t there will be severe academic consequences - often feeling like they are having to tread on eggshells in a state of tension as deadlines loom; yet, today, academic institutions are starting to feel the same state of tension and feeling of walking on eggshells as so many disgruntled students are now turning to the courts as empowered consumers of education.

With fees, today, being so exorbitantly high many are considering the true value of an academic education.  Indeed, when you look at some of the most successful entrepreneurs’ education you’ll notice that many dropped out of college - indeed, Richard Branson didn’t even make it that far.  

See, the real value value of an education is found in its ability to create more value to the marketplace; to solve a particular problem, scratch and itch someone has, and relieve a pain - whether that relates to complex IT problems or the simple problem of being hungry and on the go.

There is no intrinsic value in having a higher education qualification - there are plenty of people with degrees working in call centres.  See, a lot of people follow the academic route naively thinking it will lead them toward financial independence, but the reality is that a higher education qualification does not automatically lead to higher earnings.  

The only way to make more money is to create more value and whilst formal education can contribute to that - it’s not the be all and end all.  

People are compensated based on the value they create for a third party - whether you work for yourself or as an employer, the universal fact remains, that people get paid according to the value they provide.

In the defence of academia, there is of course a strong correlation between the amount people earn that have a solid academic education and those that don’t, on the basis the more you learn the more you tend to earn - but this is not pegged to the notion of having a certificate, it is on the basis that as a result of learning more you are in the position to create more value.

There are two ways to learn; first is through experience and the second is through education.  Nowadays, formal education is much easier to access with many courses (both vocational and academic) available online yet some of the most successful people alive today have learned by doing… and this is the second shift in education.  

Today, with the likes of Udemy and Lynda people are able to learn very specific skills that are attributed to creating more value in the marketplace.  

This new style of focused learning is making students much more empowered and selective in their approach, as when you consider the average tuition fee for one year of university in England is over £9,000 it means that a full degree course costs in excess of £30,000 - which often leads to a general qualification that isn’t of much value.

In contrast, consider if someone had invested £30,000 on their education in property development, learning from people that had been there and done it, meaning that by the age of 21 rather than come out with a fancy piece of paper and look for a job, like everyone else, they were now in the position to start building a portfolio of properties.

In summary, there’s a powershift taking place within education.  This powershift is fuelled by students seeing themselves as consumers with legal rights they wish to enforce rather than be walked all over by omnipotent institutions… and secondly, the fact we are living in a world of on-demand learning where people can learn very precise skills, at a low price, from the convenience of their bedroom.