Academics call for red tape cut

Lecturers say inspections are too heavy handed

By Angela Harrison at the AUT conference

Academics have condemned the amount of red tape in higher education, saying millions of pounds of tax-payers' money is being wasted.

During their annual conference at Scarborough in North Yorkshire, members of the Association of University Teachers, have complained about the heavy burden of bureaucracy.

David Triesman attacked the "nightmare on academic street"

General secretary, David Triesman, said lecturers and academics had a duty to speak out about waste.

He said: "We will no longer endure this absurd nightmare on academic street. It is time for the academic profession to rise up and challenge the red tape and waste that is holding our universities back."

The conference passed a motion condemning bureaucracy involved in monitoring the quality of university teaching and research.

The monitoring is carried out by the Quality Assurance Agency and the Research Assessment Exercise.

Mr Triesman told the conference: "After thousands upon thousands of inspections and hundreds of thousands of forms, and £300m spent directly on teaching quality inspection each year, there are are hardly more than half a dozen courses found wanting."

The union would like the present systems to be replaced by one in which universities would carry out their own audit of performance in areas such as the quality of teaching and courses.

But the AUT says it recognises there is also a role for external examiners.

President-elect of the AUT, Natalie Fenton, said: "All university staff accept there has to be some monitoring, but this system is too heavy-handed."