Students who see themselves as consumers rather than learners tend to perform more poorly academically, according to a study.

A survey completed by 608 students from 35 English universities formed the basis for the , published in Studies in Higher Education, that found a ¡°higher consumer orientation was associated with lower academic performance¡±.

The article, titled "The student-as-consumer approach in higher education and its effects on academic performance", was written by Louise Bunce, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Winchester; Amy Baird, of the department of psychology at Winchester; and Si?n Jones, teaching fellow in psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London.

In light of a trend in which a ¡°consumer identity appears to be increasingly recognised by students¡±, the authors set out to ¡°conduct an empirical test of the hypothesis that there would be a negative relationship between the extent to which a student expressed a consumer orientation to their studies and their level of academic performance¡±.

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The survey saw participants presented with consumer statements such as ¡°I think of my university degree as a product I am purchasing¡± and ¡°learner identity¡± statements such as ¡°I want to expand my intellectual ability¡±.

Participants responded to each statement using a seven-point scale indicating how strongly they agreed or disagreed.

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They were also asked to give their ¡°most recent grade for an assessed piece of work to measure academic performance¡±.

The authors state that ¡°a lower learner identity was associated with a higher consumer orientation, and in turn with lower academic performance¡±.

However, the authors do say that limitations of the research include the fact that ¡°the measure of academic performance was a student¡¯s self-reported most recent grade¡±, as grade point average scores were not available in the UK.

The authors say that there should be further research on the students-as-consumers approach in higher education to ¡°help mitigate its negative effects on academic performance¡±.

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Dr Bunce said: ¡°While it is positive that universities are expected to offer more value to students as a result of higher tuition fees, students also need to be aware that learning cannot be bought.

¡°Government, too, should be cautious when talking about the ¡®value¡¯ of higher education purely in terms of a financial transaction as it may encourage students to feel like they are simply buying their degree. As a result, they may start to develop a ¡®you teach me¡¯ attitude rather than one that fosters effortful engagement with their chosen subject.¡±

john.morgan@tesglobal.com