A-level results day 2018

[Annie Bynnol]

Yes. My two best friends here have lectured at Hallam for close to 25 years each. Both are appalled at the deteriorating quality of the kids they get through, many of whom can barely articulate a thought in writing coherently and yet who seem to think they have a divine right to get a good degree simply because they have invested that money. They have literally had to deal with students telling them they will sue because they got a bad mark in an essay, because they genuinely believe they are buying a degree, not earning one.

 

Having had to return for post graduate qualifications I was appalled by the quality and delivery of teaching and attitude to students.

In the 80's inadequate staff were brought in quickly to fill the need of being a university offering a full range of academic courses, rather than the more limited range at Polytechnics. Many of these staff blamed the students not realising that they went to university at a time when only 11% of the population graduated. It had doubled and would doubled again. Some of the staff had no idea, nor cared about the change in their student population.

Some had to be replaced as they could not supply evidence for qualification claimed.

 

Some people do not access mainstream traditional courses easily for huge variety of reasons. Some need more time and support. Some courses, modules, foundation degrees etc. enable a young person to achieve their aim.

It does not matter if your degree is from Oxford, Bristol or through Sheffield College, if you get your training and your job so that you become a contributor to society.

[Guest]

Does it not bother you that everyone seems to get As all the time now, and everyone goes to university. Back in the 1980s I think only 5% managed to get into university, and it meant something. Now it seems everyone goes, and employers dont see it as anything important, especially when the universities are full of people doing Sports Studies, The History of Basket Weaving and BAs in Sheep Shearing.

You're failing to take into account the profound changes to higher education which have occurred in the going on 40 years since the 80s. Vocational occupations such as nursing, non-clinical medical professions like biomedical science, and non-laboratory based medical science professions have become degree-based in changes initiated by their respective professional bodies. Back in the 80s students were attending courses at respected polytechnics and other predominantly technical institutes with long established reputations in the appropriate subjects. In 1992, many of those institutes became universities. Since then, other vocational subjects have similarly changed from, for example, HND, HNC or related professional or technical qualifications to being degree-based.

 

The problem, I think, isn't the broad-based nature of university education, no matter how disdainfully some might view professions outside traditional academia; the problem is with traditional academic subjects and the perception of some potential students seeking those qualifications. As most involved in recruiting graduates to competitive positions will agree, not all traditional academic degrees are created equal, and some academic institutions are viewed more favourably than others. I don't think some students are fully aware that their degree might not put them on an equal footing with others with a degree in the same subject.

 

As for 'dumbing down' of university education: lecturers have been snipping course content since at least the 80s - certainly since I was a new graduate in the early 90s - to account for changes to A Level and GCSE syllabuses. Similarly, academics have long noted that students new to higher education have some deficiencies in grammar and spelling. What's relatively new is the extent to which new students have difficulty in adapting to the independent nature of university education.

[realcockney]

A* and A,s mean nothing now nearly all get them, exams are dumbed down from when we took them, its all to do with inclusiveness, same with soft degrees, nobody does the work anymore.

[Guest]

Which of those universities are actually worth going to?

 

You give me a pointless course from a university from the Russell Group then I might take some notice. At the moment, all your ranting is just mere noise to me.

A few years back folk were all sniffy and sniggery about the worth of degrees in Social Studies, Sociology, and Film Studies. All three are offered by Warwick, for example. Times (and universities and their degrees) change.

 

---------- Post added 19-08-2018 at 12:43 ----------

 

A* and A,s mean nothing now nearly all get them, exams are dumbed down from when we took them, its all to do with inclusiveness, same with soft degrees, nobody does the work anymore.

8% achieved A* in 2018 compared to 8.3% in 2017.

Edited August 19, 2018 by Guest

[El Cid]

90% of all MPs have attended university, that does not reflect society, but it is an indicator that attending university does get you to the top.

[Bargepole23]

A* and A,s mean nothing now nearly all get them, exams are dumbed down from when we took them, its all to do with inclusiveness, same with soft degrees, nobody does the work anymore.

 

Except that's not true is it.

 

My son got A* in Maths and Physics, and one other, and the course content was very similar to that which I studied 30 years ago.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Bargepole23

[truman]

90% of all MPs have attended university, that does not reflect society, but it is an indicator that attending university does get you to the top.

 

You reckon being an MP is "the top"?

[El Cid]

You reckon being an MP is "the top"?

 

We all come on here to discuss what we should do to this country, surely 90% of posters on here would love to be able to actually do something, instead of just talk.

[Jonny5]

We all come on here to discuss what we should do to this country, surely 90% of posters on here would love to be able to actually do something, instead of just talk.

Its actually quite easy to become an MP if you are willing to put the hours in and shut yourself off from all viewpoints other "my political party is the best".

[Mr Bloke]

Its actually quite easy to become an MP if you are willing to put the hours in and shut yourself off from all viewpoints other "my political party is the best".

Hmmm...

 

... I didn't realise that there was so many MP's on SF.