Cambridge departments featured 19 times among the top tens of the teaching quality rankings. Among the new universities, Oxford Brookes is the most prominent among the highest-rated teaching courses. For subjects as diverse as surveying, media studies and maths, former polytechnic departments were found to be rubbing shoulders at the top of tables with the most established university schools. Academic heads spoke of the shift from traditional didactic teaching methods to more recent student-driven learning in university courses. Students are now encouraged to explore subjects and assume responsibility for their own practical projects far more.
Work placements are also far more common in academic training, often involving a study year abroad.
New computing technologies have revolutionised teaching in universities over the last decade, with many students wondering how their predecessors ever completed degrees without e-mails and the internet. Student halls are now fully wired up at institutions such as Nottingham University. Some academics, though, harboured private concerns that the new generation of techno whizzkids are often lacking in key basic numerical and writing skills. Research was almost universally regarded by academics as crucially important in underpinning their teaching activities, helping to invigorate lectures, and keep students up to speed with the latest developments in fast moving fields. This was a belief held by department heads working in vocational or academic subjects, and in new and old universities, irrespective of the size of the institution's research budget.