University undergraduates are hiring private tutors to help them pass exams because they feel they are receiving inadequate teaching on their degree courses.

Institutions were the practice is becoming established include Oxford, University College London, and Warwick.

The willingness of undergraduates to pay up to £40 per hour for private tuition on top of annual fees of £3,145 is the latest evidence of students’ dissatisfaction about teaching standards that do not match their expectations.

Students at universities including Bristol and Manchester have recently staged protests against cuts in teaching hours, growing class sizes and a rise in the use of postgraduate students to fill in for academic staff. Recent government research has found that British undergraduates have the shortest teaching hours in the European Union.

Some students are even being recommended by their lecturers to seek private tuition. Some university lectures have as many as 100 students, resulting in students not gaining an opportunity to gain face-to-face teaching.

With students facing important end of year exams it has become even more crucial to ensure they receive as much help as possible, even if this means stumping up for private tuition on top of the ever-increasing university fees.