The names of two senior members of staff at Kingston University who pressured students to lie to boost the university's ranking in an official poll have been revealed.
Dr Fiona Barlow-Brown and Fred Vallee-Tourangeau, who are both psychology lecturers at the university, were secretly recorded telling more than 100 students the value of their degree depends on the university's reputation and score in the National Student Survey (NSS).
"If Kingston comes down the bottom, the bottom line is that nobody is going to want to employ you," Dr Barlow-Brown, who is currently on maternity leave, is heard saying.
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This NSS was introduced by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to gather feedback on the quality of students' courses in order to contribute to public accountability.
In a statement, vice chancellor Professor Peter Scott said: "We believe this to be an isolated incident and regret the inappropriate comments made to students about the National Student Survey, even if these remarks were not intended to be taken entirely literally.
"As soon as we were alerted to this allegation we investigated the matter and looked at ways to ensure that such a mistake was not repeated.
"We have kept the Higher Education Funding Council for England fully informed about our investigation.
"Kingston University liaised extensively with the students' union in the run up to the National Student Survey and together we prepared a number of joint communication materials informing staff and students about the NSS process.
"In all these communications it was made clear that staff should explain how the NSS was implemented and the reasons for completing the survey, but that they should encourage students to be honest in their response and should not in any way attempt to influence what they said.
"In future, the university plans to introduce an agreed script about the NSS which will be widely circulated to students and staff to avoid any repeat of this incident."
The university refused to comment further about whether any disciplinary action against the two lecturers will take place.
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