UHI course gets stick.

[ecb]

One of the UHI courses is getting stick in an article:

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6955701.stm

"University 'non-courses' attacked

Horse psychology is one of the courses complained about
Hundreds of university "non-courses" should be abolished as a waste of public money, a group campaigning for lower taxes has said. ...

The report had a "top five" of target courses:

1. Outdoor adventure with philosophy, at Marjon, the College of St Mark and St John in Plymouth
2. Science: fiction and culture, at the University of Glamorgan
3. Equestrian psychology, at the Welsh College of Horticulture in Mold, Flintshire
4. Fashion buying, at Manchester Metropolitan University
5. Golf management, at UHI Millennium Institute, based in Inverness. ..."

I suppose "Golf management" doesn't sound as outlandish as some of the others.

[jsherris]

Heehee,

Don't let Andy see that last one... I might end up being married to a VERY immature student!

[JAWS]

How about a Doctorate resulting from a thesis ‘Football, Identity and the Press in Europe after the Bosman ruling (1995)’.
No, I’m not joking and neither is it a “pretend” Doctorate from one of the “Pay your money and get one with your Breakfast Cereal” type self declared Universities you see on the web.

This link at the Cambridge University site gives the details http://www.intstudies.cam.ac.uk/students/ranc.html

[Boozeburglar]

We should be targetting resources at the things we need, no country can afford to educate for the sake of educating. Yes your horizons are broadened by further study, and your capabilities to organize and work independently are enhanced, but should the country fund this without question?

I feel we should be offering truly free education in the fields we need graduates, such as engineering.

If you want to study some of the less vocational courses then perhaps you should be paying more for.

[Cattach]

These places and courses are all about empire building. More courses more staff, more promoted staff, higher salaries. Keep the circle going, get more students. Quality of courses does not matter. We see people mentioned in the press getting 'top' degrees in the most outlandish subjects. The degree parchments are not now worth the paper they are written on.

Many of those with degrees would not have got into a poor college 20 years ago now they are getting Honours Degrees!!!

[JAWS]

I know some of the examples given are at the more extreme end of some of the "degrees for degrees sake" for want of a better phrase.

My opinion is that, whilst everybody should be given the opportunity to achieve a place at University, only those who are towards the top end of educational ability should succeed. Altering the level of the bar to satisfy some Government (and that is any Government) aspiration in order to play the numbers game serves no purpose at all.

Inventing Degree Courses to suit every level of education simply to increase the number of degrees issued does not help those who shouldn't be at University in the first place and lowers the value of those who work hard and obtain a degree which genuinely reflects their higher educational ability.

The idea that everybody should go to university is as ridiculous as the idea that everybody should be able to run 100 metres in 10 seconds.
The concept that you either send people to University or condemn them to being Factory Fodder is, and always was, just so much nonsense.

[squidge]

If you want to study some of the less vocational courses then perhaps you should be paying more for.

I would have thought that Golf Management was exactly that a vocational course. What would be interesting to know ishowmany of the graduates from this course are in employment in their chosen field - that would give some idea of the relevance of the course.

[Boozeburglar]

I would have thought that Golf Management was exactly that a vocational course. What would be interesting to know ishowmany of the graduates from this course are in employment in their chosen field - that would give some idea of the relevance of the course.

I agree Golf Management is definitely a turn key course, but for the private sector. I feel that it should be mainly funded by that industry. If a university wishing to run such a specialist course cannot attract funding from the industry involved it should be a measure of its viability, not just whether that industry happily absorbs free turn key graduates.

A university wishing to introduce a degree course, "Boy Bands and the Songs of Take That", would hopefully find it much harder to attract any private backing, so that would limit the viability of that course unless they attracted applicants prepared to fund themselves.

What I would like to see is a huge increase in funding for public sector orientated courses, along with guarantees of minimum terms that graduates should work in these areas once they finish. (Though I wouldn't stipulate they must, for instance, nurse in the UK for five years immediately. Perhaps they should agree to nurse in the UK for five in their first ten years post qualifying OR pay and enhanced amount back covering a large part of the costs of their training, regardless of where they are working. I would also like to see the UK compensating countries which we are draining of nurses, doctors, etc.)

Thing is that some of the classic university courses are almost completely non vocational, so do I really have the right to suggest that Boy Bands and the Songs of Take That is less relevant to society today than Greek Mythology?

[Tubthumper]

If you should go to UHI
And aim for Golf Degree
Just be prepared to get some grief
There is no point, you see
In aiming for a higher ed-
Ucation in this field
Regardless of the job you find
Your reputation's sealed

Because our academics have
The system sewn together
You cannot get in certain jobs
Regardess of whatever
Your capabilities are and
Your IQ if you like
If you don't have degree then you
Can jump straight on yer bike

Aha! However here's the catch
In certain eyes it seems
That 'A' degree shows what you're like
And how you'll meet your dreams
Because in circles academic
Having a BA
Is good enough, ne'er mind the subject
Shows you can study

And thus our future King, gawd bless 'im
William as he's known
Has gained degree from great old college
Education's grown
Just what, we ask, is field of expertise of future ruler
'History Of Fine Art' baby, that's the upper-schooler

If you are rich you get degree
If family is old
The structure's based one quality
So we are often told
But if you went to Eton and
Did really bad in classes
You do not tend to find yourelf
Out on your fleshy asses

Yes, Oxford, Cambridge, all degrees
Are worth more than their weight
In gold as far as gaining influence upon the state
You make your money on your reputation and your school
Regardless whether you can read, or whether you're a fool

The country's fair? Yeah right!
It's built on academic thought
If you've not studied university
Then you are not
Invited to the party where
The smartest people go
How do we know who's smartest? Well-
Academics tell us so!

So if you study golf or fitba'
Boy bands, dirt or Art
It doesn't really matter, we
Just dinnae care a fart
If engineering is your bag
Perhaps there is a point
You might help good old Scotland out
And finance improved joint

But really, where's the problem, eh?
And who the hell complains
Our kids go off to uni and
Get something in their brains
It keeps them off the streets although
We have to pay the price
It costs a bleedin' fortune though
They live on beer and rice

As postscript to this missive I
Can happily report
That i've not been to Uni, not for
Poems, Art or Sport
I do not give a damn if you would like to spend four years
Attending pointless classes or
Consuming subidised beers

This poem here has taken me
Just 17 minutes straight
It rhymes, it gets the point across
And lets me clearly state
I never spent a moment's time
At Uni making hay
Though many people say I have
A a really good BA!

That's possibly Bad Attitude. Unless I've been at the curry

[jimbews]

And thus our future King, gawd bless 'im
William as he's known
Has gained degree from great old college
Education's grown
Just what, we ask, is field of expertise of future ruler
'History Of Fine Art' baby, that's the upper-schooler

Actually his degree was in Geography:

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/gg/prospective/

as described in the BBC news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4120776.stm

and Art History was ONE of the three subjects he would have studied in his first year.

JimBews

[Tubthumper]

I stand corrected JB, got carried away in the moment

And thus our future King, gawd bless 'im
William as he's known
Has gained degree from great old college
Education's grown
Just what, we ask, is field of expertise of future ruler
'History Of Fine Art' baby, that's the upper-schooler

Geography's his major with
Component parts so many
What relevance has art to Geog?
I wonder if there's any
But surely, though it proves the loon
Can pass exams with style
Was four long years at Uni
Best way his time to while

Perhaps while he's ruling UK
If hours are awfully long
His Geog degree will help work out
Where British Empire's gone
And though his subjects are on move
Our numbers are increasing
His geography will help find out
From where they're all escaping