On call: how much support should academics give students?

I had a student personally threaten me because he had to be aware of some maths on a module I was teaching. He followed me to my car and was particularly aggressive. My university did nothing to support me after I reported the incident and the student essentially got away with sexual harassment.

Coming from a background in Further Education, I find personal tutoring in Higher Education is lagging far behind. Yes, students should be becoming ever more independent in their learning, but they are still human beings and all of us sometimes need help or a listening ear. Academics do not know the answers to everything, but we need to become good at finding out, or at least knowing where to send a student in need. As my specialism is in online learning, I'm as much of a digital native as they are and you will find me online at the weekends... but I sleep at night :) Part of the journey towards becoming an independent learner includes getting pointers on how to go about it - it doesn't come easy to everyone. So the advice I give is often a hint as to where to find the answer they are seeking, rather than providing it outright.

I have been a teacher and lecturer for over 25 years. The support given to students in university in no way matches those very high standards in schools or colleges. So Keele wants to reduce student reliance on academics really, after taken a postgraduate course at Keele I can only say that support will become negligible and unprofessional. I made a formal complaint it was investigated and got my money back. It took a year. Post script that year using an F.O.I. I found out that only 4% of postgraduate students filled in their survey, I then saw that they to great acclaim said 94% of postgraduates thought their university was satisfactory. Come on Keele clean up your act!

Here in Scotland, where there are no tuition fees for Scottish undergraduate students, we're possibly less affected than others. While I do receive occasionally peremptory and out of hours communications from students, I feel no inhibition whatsoever in responding only during office hours and when it it is appropriate in terms of my other commitments. I am neither a social worker nor a shortcut to information they usually already have. I think much of the problem here is academics pandering to them when we shouldn't feel shy about saying, 'no, do it yourself' or 'no, I am entitled to evenings, weekends and holidays'. I had one student email me last week to ask about a deadline he'd already been given. I replied, 'I made all of this clear during meeting 1. I reiterated this in an email sent on 12th October, did you not receive this?'. To the student's credit, he replied 'I did receive this. Sorry to waste your time'. I don't want to resort to 'man up' and 'tough love' cliches on everyone, but come on people ... resist!

Some heads of dept are only to keen to help students who big up their books and publications by referencing them! Some students have actually had their PhD's supervised by family friends - that should not be possible -so why are no checks being made or why are those in useful positions being allowed to do this for the kids of friends.

I provide support and a willing ear but set clear boundaries, particularly around final assessment time. The students are advised the deadline of when they can lodge questions and the window I will respond. Anything outside that window (except for real life emergencies outside of the student control) are not answered. Students respect the boundaries - and it is better preparing them for workplaces where there are stated expectations on both sides.

I'm clear from day one with students that I'm an employee who is paid Monday to Friday and work 9am-5pm and will never read their emails or questions at evenings or weekends - none of them have ever had problems with very clear blunt boundaries.

I use a plugin for my Mac mail program with which I can delay the sending of some of my emails to 9am on the next working day (https://www.mailbutler.io/?ref=09e03f25-a2c2-4383-bbe4-f9c459f292cd). Then I can write the answer without opening the student email twice, while avoiding lengthy back-and-forth email exchanges in evenings and weekends. I also don't raise wrong expectations.

It's not only academics who are under this pressure to respond to emails out of working hours - subject/liaison librarians are too.