Snip!t from collection of Alan Dix

<div class="standfirst"><p>In higher education, it's not how much time you spend with students, but what you do with it that should count</p></div> <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> var pgtitle = "Leader: Hours and hours of reckoning"; var byline = "Ann Mroz"; </script><p>What is a contact hour? How does a lecture with 70 other students equate with a seminar group of eight? What if the lecture is awful? Does it still count as an "hour"? The current obsession with measuring time spent with lecturers to ensure value for money, although understandable at a time of increased tuition fees, not only misses the point but gives the wrong impression about what a higher education is for. </p>