Margaret Hodge sets a poor example to students in her first interview.
She excuses her own limited performance as a university student by saying that she "should have been forced to do more work" by her lecturers. Those of us who have been concerned to improve the quality of university teaching continually emphasise the importance of students taking responsibility for their own learning and of lecturers encouraging them to do so. It is sad that a minister of state has not herself embodied this attitude and still, after more than 30 years, puts all the blame on her teachers for her own lack of effort.
Her authoritarian approach also bodes ill for the "weight" she might want to put behind QAA. Does she want it to become even more like Ofsted?
Perhaps she fancies herself as a reincarnation of Chris Woodhead. And we all know what happened to him.
She has much to learn.
Stephen Rowland
Professor of higher education
University College London