Sxxt in a bubble bath - You can't do that!
Is it wrong to produce a fact sheet on the Browne review and ask my students about their thoughts on the matter? It doesn't bear much relationship to the course content, but it's surely important for students to know/think about(and what's the point of teachers if they don't talk about important things?)
Sneaks, how much do you think most public servants get paid?
my husband is a civil servant so I know its very small :-( rubbish. unfortunately he likes flexible working so won't go to a private sector company and for every company I've suggested he's decided that "everyone who works there are tw@s". I can't blame him really.
======= Date Modified 12 Oct 2010 16:13:55 =======
Slizor, I think it would make a lively discussion/debate if nothing else. I just received an email from my university summarising the findings as follows:
In short the Review recommends that:
The cap on tuition fees, which is currently set at £3,290, should be lifted, allowing universities to set their own fee levels.
Universities should be subject to a levy on fees above £6,000, which would cover the cost to the Government of providing upfront student finance. The Review estimates that a fee of £7,000 would be needed to maintain the current unit of resource (based on their estimate of likely cuts in HEFCE funding for teaching).
Graduates should begin to repay the cost of their fees when their earnings reach £21,000, (they are presently required to begin repayment when they earn £15,000)
The four existing higher education bodies (the Higher Education Funding Council for England, the Quality Assurance Agency, the Office for Fair Access, and the Office of the Independent Adjudicator) be replaced by a single Higher Education Council.
We must consider them alongside the very substantial reductions in public funding for Higher Education that are expected to be announced in the Comprehensive Spending Review on 20th October and must also take account of the extent to which the Government adopts the recommendations of the Review.
The current Conservatives do not support this as you say, so it's kind of a moot point which more bolsters the argument that the present government is, in fact, damaging social mobility. As far as I am concerned, what they did or did not do in the past does not change what they're doing now.
Apart from the fees mess I am also very worried about teachers training for lecturers. a) I don't know how an earth I could do another period of training after my phd to secure employment b) i don't think teachers training is neccesary or appropriate for university level teaching. Sure, we have all had a few dodgy lecturers - but extra qualifications on top of already onerous research, admin, and teaching work is ridiculous! More ad-hoc teaching reviews as part of good practice with relevant workshops would be better solution. Of course it is all about spoon-feeding the student customer and also creating extra revenue for teachers training. Indeed, who will pay for this? I certainly cannot afford any more. I'm so sick and tired of it all (government).
Yeah sadly I'm afraid that it seems to be going down that route - a friend of mine had to do a course to get a teaching qualification when he started his job as a lecturer. I think it was either done in house or the uni paid for it as it seems unfair to force this extra qualification on us and then expect us to pay. I think it was sold as professional development or some jargon like that - think he did it part time so it's not like a total degree as such unless Mr Browne has any other ideas!!??? Don't think I could do another course either or exams for that matter on top of the admin, research, writing papers and extras lecturers already have to do to satisfy the RAE and other quality assessments/criteria!!!
It seems like the days of having the freedom to do what you want within reason are over due to all this assessment and quality assurance to make sure the students are getting their money's worth!!! I wonder how one is supposed to do any research in this environment!
I mean ropey lecturers give students something to talk about .... maybe it's just that unis have become more customer based ... so students as good customers like to get value for money and seem very good at complaining and asking for stuff. Spooning feeding is likely to rate highly in student satisfaction - what's the purpose of uni again? Oh yeah I had forgotten that it's for learning - ok I know this doesn't apply to everyone but a good portion of students are just there for the sake of it.
I don't remember the drive to fill in all these forms when I was at uni to see how the dept were doing. We got asked for our feedback and we had a discussion about what we thought of the course and suggestions for improvements which they sometimes took into account and sometimes they didn't. I remember having to do an exam for a very pointless course which we were told we didn't have to do an exam for initially!
very specific to my field, but of interest perhaps?
http://www.meccsa.org.uk/pdfs/ThreeD-Issue015.pdf
Depressing times indeed
I'm not really sure I want to work for a UK university anymore if this stuff happens
One thing I can't help thinking is that life is becoming considerably harder on the nation's young people. I sort of get the feeling that politicians may be looking to make savings on this demographic perhaps because they tend not to vote. I'm 26 and I've never voted in elections, not because i'm disinterested or don't understand, but because I think the politicians are all pathetic and out of touch.
Perhaps this is their way of taking advantage of the fact that young people are much less likely to vote than the older members of society, not to mention the fact that you can't vote untill the age of 18 anyway. What do other people feel about this idea, is it time that young people became a bit more political? or do we just have to accept that things just aren't how they used to be?
My mum (who is really really old :p ) says that the 'tory form' is to cut cut cut, until everything is ruined, broken and in disrepair, because they claim the country is ruined. And then 3-6 months before an election they suddenly announce that actually, they've managed to fix it all and its all fabulous.
Problem is, it surely leaves the opposition having to then come in to power and spend like mad to redress the balance - e.g. child poverty, and then they get blamed for spending too much, so the tories come in and cut it all and then.......argh!
Sneaks, a different way to put what your mum says is that Labour always bankrupts the country with a ridiculous amount of spending which we don't really need, and it's left to the Conservatives to sort it out. Yes, I find all these cuts about as unpalateable as anyone else, but remember that, in 1997, the Labour government inherited a very healthy economy. Look at what they did with it...
This is well out of my area of expertise, so you'll have to forgive my ignorance, but wasn't it largely as a result of the fact that we had lots of North Sea oil and gas to sell. And then, wasn't there a lot of privatisation and selling off of state assets? I don't think they'll be doing much of that this time, though I believe they're looking at selling off a lot of state owned buildings and and land to raise capital. Anyway, what do I know - politics isn't really my forte?
The only thing that really concerns me is what they're going to do with HE - essentially ruin it and dash peoples' aspirations, along with the health care system. Still, Browne says that it won't discourage people from going to university - what on earth does the millionaire Lord Browne know that I can't seem to understand?
Dave has said that a few years from now, we're all going to be better off and have lots more money in our pockets - and, hopefully, those of us who get married will get tax breaks worth 3 to 4 quid a week!! What a lovely sweetener to the bitter pill we're all going to have to swallow. Watch this space!
Sneaks, a different way to put what your mum says is that Labour always bankrupts the country with a ridiculous amount of spending which we don't really need, and it's left to the Conservatives to sort it out. Yes, I find all these cuts about as unpalateable as anyone else, but remember that, in 1997, the Labour government inherited a very healthy economy. Look at what they did with it...
Are you suggesting that our current predicament is caused by over-spending on public services, or that the Banking Crisis wouldn't have happened on the Conservative's watch? Yes, Labour made many mistakes, but our economy would be no better right now had the Conservatives been in charge. Now they're sh*tting all over our society in ways too numerous to list here, and all under the banner of "we inherited a mess from Labour". Funny how these "unpalatable cuts" seem to fit quite nicely with their long-held ideology.
I really have tried to refrain from commenting on this thread, but I can't help myself. The Conservatives: a party of the rich, for the rich. The Lib Dems should hang their heads in shame. :-s
