Delighted to see University applications down 9%..

[Rupert_Baehr]

My partner is a lecturer in business/marketing.She takes classes of up to 400 students,(masters level) Her workload is horrendous! With scant resources,or back-up.

 

Ouch! I'm surprised the Master's students allow the University to get away with that!

 

As I mentioned in my previous post, the undergrad classes were 400 +, but the maximum size of a Master's class was 29 (because there were only 29 students on the course) and the class was often split into two for lectures. Seminar groups were 7 or 8 and if, for some reason, a seminar or lecture was cancelled, there was invariably a complaint from the students. - We're paying for this, it's up to you to provide that which you contracted to provide!

[blades89]

I'd like to think that going to Uni is more about broadening the mind than getting a good job out of it.

 

 

 

I think you need to have very rich parents if thats the reason for going to university. If money is no object, then YES - university is about broadening the mind.

 

Sadly though for the majority, then aim is to get a decent job at the end of the 3 years

[Rupert_Baehr]

They could, but it wouldn't be a foundation year then as non of the students could have maths any more advanced than a-level (do they still do s papers, I took a couple)

What were the entry criteria then, A* maths a level as a minimum (and they struggled) anyone else would need the foundation year for extra maths work.

 

I've no idea what the entrance requirements were. - I doubt they could be higher than A*.

 

It may be that although the additional year was described as a 'Foundation' year, it went rather further than that.

 

I was surprised when my son told me that students with A* were struggling. - And he was very glad he'd done the additional year. That additional year increased the overall cost considerably, but he thinks it was well-worth doing.

 

Presumably, if a pattern of 'struggling students' emerges, the University will have to consider extending the course by an additional year for everybody. I very much doubt that they would consider 'dumbing down' the course.

[Rupert_Baehr]

I thought an IT degree was a low value degree? Students through the doors = money and since less funding has come from government, universities have had to rely on luring in students and it is the oversea's students which are most profitable.

 

 

I think that depends on which IT degree you do and where you do it. Not all universities are equal.

 

Many universities rely heavily on foreign students and have done so for the last 15-20 years. Few universities have financial resources which would allow them to ignore foreign students.

 

Here's part of the information for foreign students published by one university:

 

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(AFAIK, it's also available in English.)

[Cyclone]

If it's a year that practically everyone needs then it's not really the same as a normal foundation year.

The norm is that a foundation year is to bring students who don't meet the criteria (but are still wanted by the university) up to the level they need to join the course.

It might be someone who hasn't done one of the required subjects but has demonstrated that they have the capability for example.

[Cyclone]

I think that depends on which IT degree you do and where you do it. Not all universities are equal.

Indeed.

I didn't make the grade to study computer science at Cambridge, but I did study it at a university with a good reputation in the subject and generally.

One of the 'plate glass' universities.

 

It did the job anyway, which is to get you a job, within a few years of starting work the degree becomes largely irrelevant and it's all about experience.

[grafikhaus74]

I think you need to have very rich parents if thats the reason for going to university. If money is no object, then YES - university is about broadening the mind.

 

Sadly though for the majority, their aim is to get a decent job at the end of the 3 years

 

But is it? Back in the day, people leaving school and going to uni were very much the exception (and that was at the excellent King Ted's).

 

Nowadays, it's seen as a rite of passage, a chance to follow your peers.

[Kthebean]

None but what op is trying to say is that students think just because they have a useless peice of paper they are too good to stack shelves just like last week in the news with the student who said she was too good to work at poundland.

 

She wasn't offered to work at poundland she was offered to volunteer at Poundland.

[max]

I thought an IT degree was a low value degree?

 

Thanks for that, that's 1984-88 written off for me then.

[Cyclone]

Thanks for that, that's 1984-88 written off for me then.

 

And presumably all those years at Capgemini and your career as well.

 

I wouldn't worry, he was just having a cheap shot at me by trying to devalue my education.

 

Personally I'd put Comp Sci degrees at a similar level to Engineering, studying law, medicine or other vocational degrees. Out of that list I'd say that they're all similarly difficult apart from Medicine which might be a bit harder (although not a lot from the medical students that I know).