IT key for students' Uni choice

More students than ever before take the IT capabilities of their potential university into consideration before applying for a place, research reveals

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in students' choice of University according to a survey by integrator Telindus.

Apart from the academic record, nightlife and accomodation issues, IT featured very highly in a potential undergraduate's choice for further education, Telindus claimed.

According to the results, 86 per cent of students would be swayed by broadband access in their halls of residence, 36 per cent see campus-wide Wi-Fi access as a must and 100 per cent of respondents would change their choice of university if they did not have access to a PC.

Mark Hutchinson, UK managing director of Telindus, said: "The results from this survey highlight how today’s students expect far more from their educational institutes. These students are bringing an entirely different skill set into the academic environment and, having been raised in an environment where the Internet and PC have connected people worldwide, they demand interactivity to help them secure jobs in the future.”

The trend for digital learning was echoed by teachers. While every teacher surveyed believed that technology helped students to learn, 83 per cent did feel that students’ reliance on the Internet would lead to an increase in plagiarism. It was unclear whether teachers felt this was intentional, but there was a consensus that originality was deteriorating.

In other areas, over 87 per cent of teachers said that they communicated with their students by emails (university lecturers) with almost a quarter broadcasting lessons over the Internet. Most (66 per cent) found the technology easy to use, but of these the same amount felt that they needed more training to get the best out of the IT tools available to them, or risk falling behind the very people they are supposed to be teaching.

“In order to attract and retain applicants, universities must attain the right blend of hands-on teaching and innovative IT and, in a sector where every penny counts, these resources must also be used to their maximum potential”, added Hutchinson.