Writing for publication workshop

May 10th 2010.
At a workshop today - part of the Teacher Fellow away day - we were encouraged to get into the habit of writing. so here is my first go...
One of the issues that swirled around at coffee time was the role of students in the modern HEI. There seems to be a significant difference between a conception of students as consumers and a conception that sees them as members of an academic community.
what do students want? the evidence that I have seems to suggest that they like the idea of being taught by staff with current and substantial subject expertise, and so in that sense they want to be part of an academic community - perhaps even to sit at the foot of a sage. However there is also evidence of the wanting to be seen as consumers, to get what they want because they are paying for it. this has come home to me this week with dealings with students from Bedford. They are demanding (the right word) that the university moves in their direction irrespective of any other consideration.
What should an institution do? i think there is a need to hold a certain line but not to seem to be so entrenched or exclusive that students see you as remote. there is definitely a need to be responsive, to know what the real world for students today is like. Yet at the same time there is a need to say that the institution has limits and along with that goes expectations and limits.