An unidentified lecturer has written an explosive account of their experience of teaching students under the new £9,000 tuition fees regime, provoking a fierce backlash from undergraduates.
Writing in Comment Is Free for the Guardian an "anonymous academic" argues that their "students have paid £9,000 and now they think they own me".
They wrote: "I find that as the year progresses, my students become increasingly reluctant to engage in any academic behaviour that does not impact directly on their assignment grade.
Students under the new fees regime "seem to think they are buying a degree, rather than working for it"
"That is, after all, what they are paying for. And so I am not regarded as an academic. I am not an expert in my field, a practitioner with 10 years’ worth of industry knowledge," they wrote, "I am a service provider."
Perhaps unsurprisingly many have read the lecturer's argument as implicitly blaming students for their reaction to increased tuition fees - and the resulting commoditization of university degrees.
Reaction has been fiercely negative towards the academic's viewpoint.
Others have highlighted their observation that increased tuition fees have instilled greater focus and work ethic into student life.
And fees may rise even higher after it was announced universities could decide how much they charge if they can prove they offer good-quality teaching.
England topped a list of fees, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), for the first time - beating even the US.
Last month's report was the first to analyse and compare data after the fee cap in England was inreased to £9,000 in 2012. The US had the second highest average fees at around £5,300 - although Ivy League universities still charge significantly more than institutions in the UK
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