Lancaster University

They made big promises. They charge exorbitant prices for a laughably poor standard of education. This was long before Covid-19 was on anyone's radar. If you want a distance learning programme which will actually teach you something and equip you for your future, please, please, look elsewhere. You deserve better.

In terms of the distance learning provision, the entirety of the module work was an absolute waste of time except the final essay. There was no feedback or engagement from staff on our ongoing assignments, which were marked solely on the basis that something was submitted. We had no idea whether we were understanding or synthesising information correctly. We were left to our own devices and expected to learn from podcasts and books. I could have honestly got (and often did get) a better standard of education from YouTube videos and not pay for a programme that seems like a cash cow for the university where students can be crammed into a module with little meaningful interaction or oversight from staff. It is frankly offensive that LU is charging the amounts you are for such a poor attempt at a distance learning provision. In previous modules it became a running joke between the students that we were doing a Master's degree in YouTube studies. The lecturer was lovely and professional, but the entire structure of the distance learning provision needs a complete overhaul if it's ever going to provide a good quality, meaningful or value-for-money experience to students.
I openly tell people that LU's distance learning provision is the worst I've ever encountered. We each need regular scheduled individual face time with lecturers. We need substantive feedback on every Moodle post. We need to be in a cohort that's of a manageable size. We need to be given opportunities to develop ideas and think critically instead of being given what largely feels like (and what is widely perceived amongst the students as) busy work designed to give us the illusion of progression. Some of us are paying over £10,000 per year to watch videos and read books, and write a couple of paragraphs each week that no one actually marks. It's an affront to quality postgraduate studies and I would be ashamed if people knew just how subpar my postgraduate distance learning experience is with Lancaster. I am deeply conflicted about perpetuating the illusion that we're being given an acceptable standard of education. We're not.

It's difficult to imagine how a Postgraduate qualification of such a poor standard will improve my employability when it offers nothing in terms of substantive, real world, transferable skills.

Offensively bad at caring for the students in their care. It feels like it's all about the money for them.