This was one of the biggest revelations for me, and something that I keep coming back to. I find myself thinking about it from time to time, I mention it to colleagues and friends – I think subconsciously I am trying to gain evidence of a shared reaction – that university education should not be a commodity to be bought and sold and that students should not be thought of as customers.
I, like many people, have worked various service jobs in my time. I was freelance for many years and supported myself along side that with a wide array of jobs. Stepping into ‘academia’ I thought I was getting away from customer service, but it turns out I have traded selling clothes for selling how to design and make them.
In 2014 the Consumer and Markets Authority (CMA) started a consultation with universities and other HE related bodies as to whether they were compliant with consumer protection law. The UCAS document (2015) ‘CMA Adviser Info: Consumer Protection Law and High Education’ describes the outcome very succinctly…
“The CMA considers that if universities or colleges are acting for purposes relating to their trade, business, or profession when providing educational services, they will be a ‘trader’ or ‘seller or supplier’ under consumer protection legislation. Prospective and undergraduate students will mostly be acting for purposes outside their trade, business, or profession, and therefore will be ‘consumers’ under the legislation. It follows that consumer law will generally apply to the relationship between universities and colleges and prospective and current undergraduate students.”
Sections 1.18 of the CMA Consumer Law Compliance Review (2016) outlines the consequences even further:
“In addition to the possibility of action by the CMA or other enforcement or HE regulatory bodies, students can also choose to take private actions and seek redress under consumer protection.”
This idea that students can take ‘private actions and seek redress’ if they deem their university experience not up to standard is quite dystopian to me.
What has been troubling me most is that I know that most people dealing with students’ day to day don’t view the relationship of tutor and student as one of ‘consumer’ and ‘seller’. But it does often feel like this is the view of the wider governing bodies at UAL.
When reading a recent post on Canvas from Professor Karen Stanton about the new “strategy refresh” (UAL, 2025) she describes UAL as “not structured like most universities; we have a distinct set of histories, cultures and strong brands.”
Brand
noun
noun: brand; plural noun: brands
- 1. a type of product manufactured by a particular company under a particular name.
I know there are certain financial pressure with running such a large institution, but I do find this wholesale acceptance of commerciality unsettling. Surely there must be a middle ground where we aren’t turning education into a product that is bought and sold?
References:
UAL (2025). Vice-Chancellor update: strategy refresh and Executive Board portfolios. Available at: Vice-Chancellor update: strategy refresh and Executive Board portfolios | 11 June 2025, By Karen Stanton Vice-Chancellor, Wed, 11 Jun 2025 15:30. (Accessed 28th January 2026).
UCAS (2015). CMA Adviser Info: Consumer Protection Law and Higher Education. Available at: https://www.ucas.com/sites/default/files/cma-adviser-info.pdf. (Accessed 28th January 2026).
Competitions & Markets Authority (2016). Consumer Law Compliance Review: Higher Education Undergraduate Sector Findings Report. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5791e595e5274a0da300019f/compliance-review-findings-higher-education-undergraduate-sector.pdf. (Accessed 28th January 2026).
[Further reading that informed my thought process but was not directly quoted.]
Browne (2010). Securing a Sustainable Future for Higher
Education: An Independent Review of Higher Education Funding & Student Finance. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f289540f0b62305b856fc/bis-10-1208-securing-sustainable-higher-education-browne-report.pdf. (Accessed 28th January 2026).