Total studying time at UK universities varies greatly, experts say

There is not much longer to wait. Thousands of Hong Kong students are making the transition from the grind and discipline of secondary school to university. These should be the best years of their lives in academic and social fulfilment, or so they are likely to believe.

Many will travel overseas, with Britain the most popular destination for Hong Kong students. Universities there accepted about 4,000 for undergraduate places last year.

Before making their choices, families will scrutinise league tables and listen to sales pitches by recruitment officers and agents. Rankings reflect a perception that a degree from one university does not have the same value as that from another, even though credit frameworks set norms for the study required for the qualification.

The norm in Britain, according to the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, is 1,200 hours a year, involving a mix of "scheduled contact hours" with an academic, as in lectures and tutorials, and private study. This benchmark is also international, and shared by Hong Kong's new Use of Credit System.

But the Student Academic Experience Survey 2013, published by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and magazine in Britain, shows that this is not so in reality. On average, students spend 25 per cent less time securing their degrees than the minimum required, putting in just 900 hours a year, or about 29 hours a week during term.

HEPI is concerned about what this means for the reputation of higher education in Britain, and has called for an investigation into the discrepancies between courses, and for universities to give students more information about their courses.

Britain is in the spotlight because it is transparent enough to conduct this survey. It would be useful if there were similar studies elsewhere, including Hong Kong so that internationally mobile students could make comparisons for their decisions.