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We believe that SSR's will heavily influence the quality of the education that you receive. High SSR's will make it much more difficult to access academic support, low SSR's will make it easier and allow you to flourish academically and achieve your full potential.

So why does having the opportunity to see your tutor (or other academic staff) matter so much? Well, there are many things that matter when at university; having access to a well stocked library for instance, good IT systems, well designed buildings and teaching facilities are all important, but more crucially is being able to access the most important (and costly) resource the university has - the minds that inhabit the buildings. This is the essence of what a university really is - its human capital. For students, it is the access to those minds that really matters because that is what can shape their educational experience the most.

Lectures are of course helpful and explain source material, as do books and online resources, all of this aids learning and understanding. But it is only through engaging with the material directly, where the pedigree of an idea in all its nuanced forms can be explored, wrestled over and debated, which is something best achieved with minimal numbers of students and face to face with academic staff. Mere books and lectures do not substitute for this, rather it is through the cut and thrust of debate, reasoning, reflecting and thinking, and being challenged, all taking place in real time, which is at the heart of a quality education.

It is interesting to note that when Tony Blair went to university he enjoyed an average staff-student ratio of 1:9, today the current average is 1:21 and rising (not exactly progress).

What exactly is a staff student ratio?

The staff student ratio is the ratio between the total full time equivalent (FTE) academic staff and the total FTE students at a higher education institution. By staff we mean the total teaching and research staff that offer potential academic resources to students. Students are anyone enrolled upon a course of study at an institution.

How do you work out your SSR's?

Like any derived statistic, there is an element where judgement plays a part, and the calculation can hence vary. We try to ensure that we are providing the best SSR measure from available data sources at our disposal. We do take into account part-time students and research staff when calculating the ratio, nevertheless, the exact computations are (currently) deemed commercially sensitive.

I don't have any problem in seeing my tutor, so how come my university gets such a poor rating?

We fully appreciate that different students will have different experiences at university, However, we are not measuring the subjective experiences of individual students (although we would like to hear from you - see our feedback section) rather we are interested in the capacity of an institution (as expressed in its SSR) to meet the demands of the total student body (a not unreasonable assumption). Therefore we are assuming demand for academic resources are present across all individual students throughout their studies (irrespective of whether they decide to access those resources or not).

Why don't you talk about teaching quality as well?

We recognise that teaching quality is important (the government already measures this and provides published data upon it) but we think that an institutions SSR is much more important. This is because teaching quality will always vary (both on the day for the same individual and across different individuals) and there will be some averaging out across the institution. Also a student may have a brilliant scholar who inspires them on an individual level but who is a poor lecturer in front of a class.

So being able to engage with your subject on an individual or small seminar basis counts for more in term of intellectual development (see; 1. Why should I care about staff-student ratios?) than teaching quality alone.

However, we would like to hear from you, the end user, on what you think of the teaching quality you receive (see our feedback section).

Is it not better to see your Professor once every term than an ordinary lecturer once per week?

Whilst the quality of academic staff is a factor, no one has yet managed to reliably measure this in a consistent manner. We assume a 'threshold of competence' for academic staff (without which they would not be hired) and hence we recognise them as offering a valuable contribution to a student's education.

Why don't you discuss the use of GTA's (graduate teaching assistants)

GTA's are usually employed on a casual basis by universities, and as such constitute an academic resource. We realise that their quality can vary and that not all students are enamoured with being taught by GTA's. It is our intention to provide additional information on how extensively intuitions use GTA's (although again we would like to hear from students via our feedback section on this issue).

Who are WillISeeMyTutor?

WillISeeMyTutor are a coming together of a small group of academics and IT/multi-media professionals who share a common concern over the plight of Higher Education, and crucially, are trying to do something about it.

We are an entirely independent company and in no way aligned or associated to any university, governmental agency, or student organisation.

What does 'Alpha' stage mean?

This simply means that our site is still in its first phase or 'testing' phase of development.

Why are you running this site?

In short, we are running the site to help prospective HE students make the optimal choice when deciding upon which university to study at (and who to pay their money to).

Universities do not generally make public their staff-student ratios, we do! This because we believe that information is power; when armed with all the facts a prospective student will be better equipped to navigate the assorted marketing claims (which now abound among the university sector) and make the smartest selection in where to invest 3 years of their life and a lot of money.

We are also hopeful that our own modest efforts will play a part in helping reverse the long trend in UK universities, where ever larger staff-student ratios lead to ever depreciating educational quality. All universities now operate in a market, effectively competing for students, and students select universities on the basis of (more or less) informed preference. If students recognise the importance of SSR's, and take this into account when selecting where to study, universities will be forced to respond and address current deficiencies. We think this would be a good development for all concerned.

How did WillISeeMyTutor start?

Our own experience of American Universities taught us that students in the USA are far more aware of the importance of staff-student ratios when selecting where to study than their British counterparts.

We would like to see British students adopt a similar attitude, but noted that British universities are very selective in what they tell prospective students. Having read the glossy brochure and been persuaded to enrol, a student can find a stark mismatch between their expectations of academic life and the reality; over-worked lecturers, seminar groups that resemble classes and little if any individual support.

So we decided that something should be done - and it's called WillISeeMyTutor.

What do you get out of it?

First and foremost the satisfaction of helping students and potentially, in the longer term, levering changes in the higher education sector.

However, we do incur costs because nothing is free in life. Websites cost money to establish and maintain, and obtaining performance data also has (not inconsiderable) costs. Therefore we allow some carefully selected advertising which provides a small income to meet part of those costs.

Other than this, we see WillISeeMyTutor as providing a public service to any prospective HE student - this is who the site is for.

How can I get involved and help?

You can tell your friends about our site, you can give us feedback on our contacts page or respond to our blog with your comments. We would like to hear from you, how you think the site could be improved, what you like and what you don't, what you would do differently.

We do listen and whilst we can't respond to everyone we want to make sure that we are providing a service that prospective students find useful and engaging, so let us know your thoughts - we're listening!

Who is Dr Wismyt?

Dr Wismyt is our blogger, he has a lot to say about university life, and universities in general, their courses, their problems, issues and their ploys (and yes, occasionally he makes typos, like most of us).

What do I do if I disagree with your SSR?

You can contact us through our contact sheet and state your case (this is usually assisted by provision of your own audited data). Whilst we will consider all feedback, we have our own data quality procedures which (wherever possible) triangulates data sources to ensure accuracy. WillISeeMyTutor also retains the prerogative to independently decide an institution's SSR.

What can I expect from WillISeeMyTutor in the future?

We will be developing the site in a variety of ways and in response to what you tell us.