Responding to student needs: co-responsibility between students and institutions

Following the expansion of higher education in the UK there has been increasing focus on the ways in which higher education institutions should support students. In addition, the current changes in funding for higher education in the UK will affect the finances of both institutions and students (Carrel, 2011; Cable and Willets, 2010), making the decision to embark on a journey through a higher education programme a careful and considered one. Decisions for students relate to whether to start such a journey in the first place and, if so, which course they should take and what mode of study they might adopt. The choices for institutions are in respect of what they are prepared to provide by way of programmes, courses, resources and support, in line with their own specific goals and missions (van Vught, 2008). This paper suggests that responsibility for meeting the needs of students has to be shared between higher education institutions and students themselves The paper considers whether students should be developing autonomy as an attribute before and during their time at university or college and how this might be done.