Picture the scene perhaps a decade or so ago. A dozen students sit in a dusty tutorial room listening to their professor's wheezy voice. There is no interaction and they won’t see him again until this time next week – if they decide to turn up for the lecture.

Fast-forward to the near future. Lecturers are contactable any time, anywhere, through online messaging, smart phones and internet forums. Their door is always open and promotion depends on positive feedback and perfect pass-rates.

With the majority of new undergraduates expected to pay the full £9,000 fees permitted by the government, students may find they have new found influence.

The broad shift in expectations is already changing the face of Britain’s campuses. Students (and parents) are more aware of a financial relationship with universities and with three-fold fee increase looming, are much much more likely to shop around.

Complaints have rocketed since £1,000-a-year-fees were introduced by Labour in 1999. In 2009, the Office Of The Independent Adjudicator For Higher Education received a record 1,000 complaints, up 37 per cent from two years ago.

Many relate to alleged failures by staff, after learners fail to achieve the desired grades. So will British universities soon emulate US campuses, where academic staff's pros and cons are publicly debated on websites such as ratemyprofessor.com?

The National Union Of Students last month launched a campaign for more access to their lecturers after a poll of 3,000 members found the average student received only 15 hours of tutorials or lectures a week.

So will universities, need to step up their game? Two years ago, Manchester University found itself in the grip of strikes by students protesting about the amount of contact time they got from lecturers. The response was a root-and-branch review of teaching.

Many institutions have followed similar steps. ‘Student experience’ is now a common buzzword. Large amounts of time and resources are spent canvassing student feedback.

Most universities already gather detailed information about how their graduates perform in the jobs market.  This data, along with independent assessments of their teaching, and surveys of student satisfaction, could become the benchmark on which future learners base their decision where to study.

Dame Nancy Rothwell, vice-chancellor of Manchester University, argued that universities were already becoming more responsive.

She told the MEN: “It’s obvious that we need to listen to the views of our students, ever more so as they bear the costs of their education.  But we should not forget that one of the most important reasons for listening is that they have excellent contributions to make and for most, they care about their university just as passionately as many of us do.”

The majority of institutions have yet to reveal what they intend to charge. Manchester University has announced it will charge fees at the highest level.  Both Salford and Manchester Metropolitan Universities will charge between £8,000 and £9,000 for most courses, while Bolton University will feature some of Britain's lowest fees, starting at £6,300.

So far, most of the 25 universities which have broken cover intend to charge the full £9,000. Only five plan to charge less than the maximum.

Universities minister David Willetts  has been forced to focus on the affordability of loan repayments, which begin when graduates earn £21,000 or more. High earners will pay higher rates of interest. After 30 years, any unpaid debt is written off. As well as loans, students will also be able to take out maintenance loans up to £5,288, depending on their family's income.

One recent calculation suggested graduates taking the full maintenance and loan could end up re-paying £83,000 in cash terms.

The prospect of mortgage-like debt (possibly into six figures for those taking a five-year medical degree) sits awkwardly with the latest information on graduate earnings.

The Association Of Graduate Recruiters says the average starting salary for university leavers remains unchanged at £25,000, with many earning far less than this.

But will sky-high fees and increased competition for paying students transform traditional universities into businesses?

Academics – and a number of student – maintain the traditional view that education in itself is a good thing and universities, however much they might respond to commercial pressures, must retain some degree of independence. Dame Nancy said her students did not want to be referred to as ‘customers’ and saw their time at university as a broader, more fulfilling experience.

She said: “There has been much talk of students as customers, and in some senses they will be even more so than at present. They will be paying much more – albeit as loans that many will never repay, rather than as upfront payments. But they will have much higher demands and expectations.

“But our students are very clear that they do not want to be viewed as customers, but rather as partners in the university. They want to feel ‘empowered and involved’ rather than ‘provided for and looked after’.”

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