Universities? (1 Viewer)

SBAndy said:

Part of the problem though is that schools/colleges are funnelling everyone down the route of university, and that in part brings about the devaluation. At college we used to have allocated time to write our university personal statements. One guy said he wasn’t going to uni so wasn’t bothering, and was told that he had to do one.

For all the ills of the Tory government, their increased funding for apprenticeships has been good (awaiting to hear it was actually Labour, but my memory seems to suggest Tory).

Click to expand...

LastGarrison said:

I also work in HE and I am one of the very few in my role in the country who does not have a degree. In fact it’s mandatory to have a degree for a job three grades lower than mine where I work.

I will say though that not having a degree has, and will, hold me back. For instance I was shortlisting for a role a few years ago and we shortlist based on a competency based system. Having a degree instantly got someone 10 points and not having one got zero points so you can end up with less skilled and suitable people going through to the assessment day just because someone else has a degree in a completely unrelated subject which is madness!

I also know that if I was to apply for my exact same job at somewhere like Kings College or Birmingham I would also not get a look in due to the fact that I don’t have a degree!

It is quite telling that Ernst Young have only just dropped the degree requirement for some of their top jobs but the vast majority of ‘big name’ companies still require one.

Saying all of this regardless of which degree a student gets what it does show to employers is that they can retain information, they can write reports, they can time manage etc. and that is without the superficial knowledge of the degree subject itself.

Also, many universities in the UK now teach very practically and it is all about readying graduates to be able go straight into graduate employment when they graduate and not just teaching theory.

Blair has a large part to blame for this with his ‘university for all’ policy when university shouldn’t be for all and actually degree apprenticeships, vocational programmes and professional courses should all have a wider part to play.

And don’t even get me started on universities offering unconditional offers based on predicted grades which is completely undermining and devaluing the UK HE system.

Click to expand...

Gazolba said:

Whatever you decide to study, make sure it leads to a career that cannot be outsourced.

The latest research shows that personalised individual instruction via the computer is far more effective than in-person classes. The main reason being that personalised instruction is tailored to the individual student and proceeds at their unique pace, whereas an in-person class is tailored to the average student and proceeds at the pace of the slowest student.

Click to expand...