UNI Rant

[Ed Doe]

Yes but Ginge you're missing the point I believe Kezzie is making; that those throwing away the opportunity of being at university are those who are not being Government-funded; they're being paid for by their parents...

@ Tom, if you go down the engineering route, it will open up a lot of doors if you are intending to go into the industry. the route most take is bEng, MEng, CEng (chartered engineer). The latter can be undertaken as an assessment alongside your work, and once you've got it you can essentially charge what you want for your time. Its' winning!


I spent a while typing out my opinion last night, but then ended up deleting it in favour of watching topgear re-runs. I'll try to summarise now;

the way I see it, currently we have a raft of courses for which there should NOT be a degree qualification. They should be Vocational courses, taught at Polytechnics in my opinion.

The problem stems from the Labour govenment getting rid of the polytechnics and amalgamating all the courses into degrees undertaken at university. This is not right. I'm sorry but there is literally no rational argument for placing equal weight on 'Surf-science' (an actual course at Exeter's Falmouth Campus) and say Chemical Microbiology.

If you want to do surf science or a similar degree, I'm not against this by any means, but you are unlikely to contribute back to the economy even enough to cover the cost of the course. Which means it should not be funded in the same way as a degree course, and should not be given equal standing.


Furthermore, and I know it's easy for me to talk having finished the education system, but I think in reality we need to get away from this ridiculous culture where no one is allowed to fail, and of improving the statistics to have 'more than 50% of school-leavers going on to university'. A-levels should be harder, so they become more of a qualification, and those who do not wish to go further can go get a job off the back of these.

University should then provide an environment for the small percentage of truly bright minds in the country to further specialise in their chosen field. The goverment loans and grants will then be less stressed, and they will be able to properly budget to offer a far more comprehensive support package to make sure these bright minds can afford to be at university irrispective of background/financial circumstances etc.

University should certainly not be seen as a 'given' for those who can stumble through A-levels, so they can mooch off the government for another 3-4 years whilst learning Underwater Basket-weaving or some other dross, only to get a job under the minimum repayment threshold anyway and not end up paying anything back.


That is my opinion.

/rant


EDIT:

I would also like to point out I knew from AS levels that I wanted to do an engineering-based degree. I then found the Renewable Energy BSc course, and worked out there was likely to be a future in this field, and that the course info would be relevant and up-to-date. I did my 3years, graduated, and I can guarantee I would not be doing the job I am now without my degree. I also know where I'm going with it, and my degree will become even more important to where I intend to be in the next couple of years.

I'm also paying my student loan back, and by the looks of it will be set to do so for quite some time. But I've already worked out I'll pay it all off before I retire LOL