Is the bubble bursting for Universities?

[Suffragette1]

A lot of the university sector expends enormous time, energy and money recruiting overseas students, as that is where the money is.

[Snook]

For bright poor people, it should be, and they should be funded by the taxpayer using scholarship. It is in the taxpayer's interest.

 

Completely agree... Althougth not just for poor people. I think it should be free for everyone but you actually have to be clever enough to get in.

[Rupert_Baehr]

A lot of the university sector expends enormous time, energy and money recruiting overseas students, as that is where the money is.

 

And they make a considerable profit from those overseas students, whose fees constitute a substantial hidden export.

 

But I thought the point of this thread was that too many universities are producing too many graduates with qualifications which are unacceptable to very many employers?

 

I wonder how many foreign countries send their students (at great expense) on underwater basket weaving courses?

[HeadingNorth]

Completely agree... Althougth not just for poor people. I think it should be free for everyone but you actually have to be clever enough to get in.

 

It can't be free. You have to pay lecturers, buy equipment, build classrooms .... the question is not whether courses should be paid for, but by whom.

[mossdog]

And they make a considerable profit from those overseas students, whose fees constitute a substantial hidden export.

 

But I thought the point of this thread was that too many universities are producing too many graduates with qualifications which are unacceptable to very many employers?

 

I wonder how many foreign countries send their students (at great expense) on underwater basket weaving courses?

More or less sums up my thoughts! Universities have become commercial businesses,with a large number of clients turned out with rubber stamped degrees.It does not necessarily mean you will do your chosen job any better as most jobs are learnt on the job.

I do not see anything really wrong with mass further education providing the country can afford it,but in these times I think there are higher priorities than further university education for a good many at todays universities!

Some people on the forum may recall some years ago, a report in the press, of how a lecturer worked for years in one of Sheffields universities.It was subsequently found out that the lecturers own degree was falsified and had never completed a university course!Needless to say ,many ex students wrote in glowing support of the lecturer,...........................just shows! you can get a top job without going to Uni.

[muddycoffee]

..... I think it should be free for everyone but you actually have to be clever enough to get in.

 

Cleverness has nothing to do with it.

 

To pass, you need to be prepared to do the work and be well enough organised.

[Suffragette1]

And they make a considerable profit from those overseas students, whose fees constitute a substantial hidden export.

 

But I thought the point of this thread was that too many universities are producing too many graduates with qualifications which are unacceptable to very many employers?

 

I wonder how many foreign countries send their students (at great expense) on underwater basket weaving courses?

 

I was merely extending the ‘bums on seats’ argument that of course universities are looking to make a profit like any other business. This will become even more of an imperative in the current climate and last year saw a number of courses in clearing closed to home students. Overseas students are overwhelmingly attracted to business studies and its cognate subject areas.

 

The last government’s initiative to drive forward mass higher education has inevitably resulted in an over saturated graduate market. It is impossible, IMO, to retain quality as well as increase quantity.

[muddycoffee]

It is worth reflecting that in some disciplines, the standards are (and have for decades been) much higher. For example in my previous job I used to visit lots of labs across the whole of the UK and meet lots of chemists. In general they said that a Chemistry undergrad Degree has always had a low value and many Chemistry graduates find they spend their career washing out test tubes. Despite being a fairly difficult subject, to really progress in a large chemical company you need post graduate qualifications. You need a PHD to get on to worthwhile pay grades in that kind of industry. This is why you meet lots of chemists who change career, because so many move to a different jobs after they realise how futile it can be.

[metalman]

This is why you meet lots of chemists who change career, because so many move to a different jobs after they realise how futile it can be.

 

Or to put it another way, doing a chemistry degree equips you with good transferable skills to make you a versatile and adaptable person in the job market.

[Bedders]

What i don't get is how come more people than ever in history in the Uk are taking & obtaining degrees at university (supposedly opening the mind to free thinking) & tv shows like Big Brother & Jeremy Kyle are some of the most popular programs!:huh: