University building - a fake economy?

[Eddie_shef]

Herein lies the problem. Now university education is a money making business, no more, no less, there is no thought given to what the country needs; where the shortages are and where the over supply. Not all graduates will be able to obtain careers in their chosen field, or even in a well paid job.

 

It's an awful lot of time and money to work in a call centre.

 

Wouldn't it in theory lead to improvements and innovations in the call centre industry? Which would be of great benefit to everyone.

[Bargepole23]

So we taxpayers should foot the bill for an already taxpayer subsidised education just to make them feel good?

 

Where have I said that?

 

Some jobs, whilst requiring the depth of knowledge provided by degree level study, might not pay very well, but contribute to the social and cultural good of the country.

 

Did you go to further or higher education ez8004? If so, what did you study? Have you paid for it?

[999tigger]

Where have you got the idea that students feel like this?

 

Since the introduction of fee's I've seen students be more and more focussed on getting good results.

 

Have to agree with cyclone. Students do care, not least becayse they have to pay it back. Did you have to pay your tuitions fees back, econoob? Did you care one jot whether you passed or not?

[Flexo]

Now university education is a money making business, no more, no less, there is no thought given to what the country needs; where the shortages are and where the over supply. Not all graduates will be able to obtain careers in their chosen field, or even in a well paid job.

 

It seems reasonable to assume that students will have thought about their career path - and demand for it - before embarking on an expensive degree programme.

[Obelix]

Herein lies the problem. Now university education is a money making business, no more, no less, there is no thought given to what the country needs; where the shortages are and where the over supply. Not all graduates will be able to obtain careers in their chosen field, or even in a well paid job.

 

It's an awful lot of time and money to work in a call centre.

 

I can only conclude you've never spent a reasonable time in a university then....

 

Yes making sure that you have enough money to pay the bills, fix the buildings, etc is important. But that's no different from running a household.

 

Yes money coming in for future projects is a good idea. But that's really that different from saving for a holiday or trip of a lifetime.

 

There's very few universities that have shareholders demanding dividend.....

 

(cue hysterical ramblings about secret societies and cabals that take money out that we don't know about)

 

---------- Post added 28-11-2016 at 17:29 ----------

 

Have to agree with cyclone. Students do care, not least becayse they have to pay it back. Did you have to pay your tuitions fees back, econoob? Did you care one jot whether you passed or not?

 

I got my education paid for (but not my living costs).

 

I cared that I passed. I didn't want to have wasted three years of my life and the earning potential of those years.

[ez8004]

Where have I said that?

 

Some jobs, whilst requiring the depth of knowledge provided by degree level study, might not pay very well, but contribute to the social and cultural good of the country.

 

Did you go to further or higher education ez8004? If so, what did you study? Have you paid for it?

 

1st Class Honours engineering degree from a Russell Group university and fully paid for. My entire costs were taken care of which gave me a great motivation to do well with the golden opportunity I was given. Hence the getting a 1st which carried on with getting my chartership a few years ago. It's all about improving yourself to be the best you can.

 

This is somewhat of a family tradition we have where the children get their university costs taken care of as a way of investing in their future. I'll be doing the same for my children and it will continue.

Edited November 28, 2016 by ez8004

[Cyclone]

Herein lies the problem. Now university education is a money making business, no more, no less, there is no thought given to what the country needs; where the shortages are and where the over supply. Not all graduates will be able to obtain careers in their chosen field, or even in a well paid job.

 

It's an awful lot of time and money to work in a call centre.

 

Universities have always had limited links to industry, they still do. They don't only set out to provide the education that industry needs, if they did nowhere would teach classics or english lit. But they do compete on statistics like how quickly their graduates are employed in a profession, and average salaries 0, 5, 10 years after graduation.

[Bob Arctor]

Why are the accommodation block owners winners?

 

The loans won't be written off for 30 years, I would have thought 30 years of rental income would be a good deal before the bubble bursts. The resulting black hole in the public finances will be for the rest of us to fill.

[Cyclone]

The loans won't be written off for 30 years, I would have thought 30 years of rental income would be a good deal before the bubble bursts. The resulting black hole in the public finances will be for the rest of us to fill.

 

So, which thing is a bubble? The number of students? And it's being sustained by public investment (ie the loans)?

So what will cause it to burst? Presumably that would be the removal of the public money support, right.

 

So why are you predicting that the public support (loans) will continue for just long enough to pay off the mortgages on the accommodation for the students? And then 'burst'?

And if something lasts for 30 years, in what way can it be described as a bubble? The entire point of that phrase is that it's a short term phenomenon. Student numbers have been fairly steady for 1.5 decades now though, that already well exceeds the definition of bubble...

 

So if these privately built accommodation blocks are funded by the market, and they serve students at universities for the next 30 years, long enough to pay for themselves many times over, what's the "fake economy" bit? Surely they're a) needed by the students, b) a good investment for the companies?

[alchresearch]

speaking as a left-wing dinosaur (one of the nicer comments people have made about me) I always thought New Labour imposed a student tax to keep high-achievers from poor backgrounds out of University.

 

After all, Tony Bliar doesn't want your kids getting that nice, well-paid job ahead of his own privileged spawn, does he?

 

It was thanks to new Labour that I was given a completely free university education. They even gave me £200 a year for books, which I bought much cheaper second hand from students a year ahead, so came out in front!