Friday 19 March 2010

UNIVERSITY CUTS

The news of cuts to university funding has predictably caused concern among students and staff at those universities with student sit ins etc.
I can understand their anger but have to ask whether many of these courses are worth funding in the current climate.
The cuts amount it is said to 1.6% of total funding.
Many firms can make these cuts by greater efficiency, but then they have to produce a product that consumers want to buy.

Many of the courses on offer are well known to be "Mickey Mouse" courses which achieve little in the job prospects of students and load them with huge debts.
These students have been betrayed into thinking that there is a vast market for Media studies, drama, psychology, ancient history etc and are disillusioned when they find no jobs available, meanwhile companies complain that they can not recruit enough scientists and engineers.

Nursing is now a degree course and while some nursing graduates are necessary many of these graduates fail in the TLC aspect of the job and are too proud to actually nurse.

I believe students in disciplines which are essential to our national survival should be totally funded by government while the "soft" subjects should be dropped.
This of course will not be done. Many top politicians did Politics, Philosophy and Economics"(PPE), a completely useless course. Politics is a matter of opinion and has no scientific basis. I've not yet found out what Philosophy REALLY is or what use it is in the real world and the economists are responsible for the country's woes.

Spending will have to be cut but it is essential that vital scientific courses should be funded to a greater extent.
With intelligent allocation of resources we could save money and improve education standards in "hard" subjects while ceasing to delude thousands of indebted students that a well paid job awaits them on graduation instead of flipping burgers which is all their "qualifications" will get them.

Oh, and stop foreign students taking so many places thus allowing more British students a chance.
But then universities are regarded not so much as educational establishments as private profit seeking enterprises which is the anithesis of what their real purpose should be.

2 comments:

Dr Chris Hill said...

Hi Charles,
I normally find something (albeit often a very trivial point) to disagree with in your postings, but this time all I can say is I agree 100%.

From
Chris Hill
(Lancaster)

ENGLISHMAN said...

Philosophy is the means to ignore the pain when your "democratic" administration kicks you in the balls and demands that you pay for the priviledge.

yaz