LSE invests in new standards for teaching quality

The London School of Economics and Political Science announced last week that it is to invest an extra £2 million a year in teaching to ensure that standards match the same quality of its research.
LSE plans to recruit more lecturers, reduce class sizes for Masters’ students and strengthen its academic tutorial system, giving students a better understanding of the support available.
The improvements have been drawn up by a teaching task force team, comprising academics from a range of subject areas and a representative from the Students' Union.
The review was similar to one carried out by Harvard University and was commissioned in an effort to raise the status of teaching at the School and satisfaction levels among students. According to LSE Director Howard Davies, “good teaching is vital to LSE's success. Our students expect excellence from us in every area and to meet those expectations we need to improve out teaching. He added, "we are famous for our world-class research and the wuality of our teaching should be equally renowned. The sound proposals from the task force and the extra investment we are making in teaching will make sure we give it the importance and direction it needs."
The three main areas covered in the task force's recommendations are: improving the quality of teaching and academic support for students, supporting teachers and students and recognising and rewarding good teaching.
The bulk sum of £1.5 million has been set aside to employ around 25 additional lecturers to ensure class sizes can be reduced for the School’s 4,000 Masters' students. The rest of the investment sum will be spent on training and support for staff and students and for the encouragement of new technology in technology.