University Lecturers' Strike

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

+1

[jean]

Don't think that has passed without notice, Mr Saint. I think Mr Oven would want you to say 'whole year'.

I'd prefer 'entire year'. But I don't think 'entire' collocates very well with 'fennel'.

(And I could never approve of an allowance that was only available to men!)

[ardcarp]

The subject of University fees is hot news again. Exactly how Mrs May (notwithstanding her year long 'inquiry') is going to persuade some institutions to accept anything less than £9000 p.a. I really don't know. I guess her ideas are that some degree subjects are of less value to mankind than others. Music????!!!!

[ardcarp]

The University Lecturers' Strike is in full swing.

I feel very angry about this from two (probably irreconcilable) standpoints.

1. How dare the Powers That Be interfere with the lecturers' pension scheme

2. Students are being deprived of a substantial portion of their university education. University terms are pretty short anyway. The Autumn and Spring terms may be 8 weeks long, but the Summer is usually 'lecture-light' because of reading weeks and exams. So let us say a week constitutes one twentieth of contact time. A strike of two weeks amounts, in reality, to one tenth of a university years' teaching. I suggest students, via their Union, should demand a proportional rebate of their £9000 fees. This is very much against the spirit of university education as we knew it in The Good Old Days, but as the Government has made it a commercial enterprise they should take the consequences and PAY UP.

Adding a personal footnote, my granddaughter is in her second year reading French in an excellent, well-run, high in contact time university department, rated, for what it's worth, 3rd in the UK for languages. So from the la bouche du cheval (it probably doesn't translate well) I can attest that this strike is having a profound effect on student and lecturer morale.

[Serial_Apologist]

The subject of University fees is hot news again. Exactly how Mrs May (notwithstanding her year long 'inquiry') is going to persuade some institutions to accept anything less than £9000 p.a. I really don't know. I guess her ideas are that some degree subjects are of less value to mankind than others. Music????!!!!

What is extraordinary, too, was the government having had the gall to claim it had never anticipated all the unis going for the maximum fees permitted under the cap: a case either of utter incompetence or dishonesty.

[french frank]

Adding a personal footnote, my granddaughter is in her second year reading French in an excellent, well-run, high in contact time university department, rated, for what it's worth, 3rd in the UK for languages. So from the la bouche du cheval (it probably doesn't translate well) I can attest that this strike is having a profound effect on student and lecturer morale.

A similar situation (different underlying reason) occurred back in the 1970s. I felt extremely unhappy about taking action where the students would be the most immediate victims. Back then the threat (in the end it didn't happen) was that final exams would not be marked, upsetting for the students at a time when they least needed it.

It is the case that some degree courses depend very substantially on face-to face teaching and others don't. Does that mean that the fees should be less expensive?

[LHC]

It is the case that some degree courses depend very substantially on face-to face teaching and others don't. Does that mean that the fees should be less expensive?

It’s not just the amount of contact time that contributes to the cost of a degree, but access to equipment and additional facilities. An arts degree will cost substantially less to teach than a science or engineering degree.

When the £9000 fee was first introduced, I think it was estimated that a medicine degree cost about £18000 per person per year to teach, degrees in engineering and the physical sciences around £12000 to teach, and a degree in English or History around £6000.

[french frank]

When the £9000 fee was first introduced, I think it was estimated that a medicine degree cost about £18000 per person per year to teach, degrees in engineering and the physical sciences around £12000 to teach, and a degree in English or History around £6000.

I was trying to check up on the cost to the universities to provide the courses, but could only find articles about the cost to students. I can understand that Humanities courses are much cheaper, with a class of 50 and just 1 or 2 copies of a book in the library which the whole class wants to read at the same time.

[ardcarp]

I'm resurrecting this thread just to mention that one of my grand-daughters will be spending the 3rd year of a 4-year language course at a French University. The annual fees are £1200 and she will received an Erasmus 'scholarship' amounting to approx £350 per month.

One wonders why anyone bothers going to a British University?

[greenilex]

Most of us are shackled by tradition.

[teamsaint]

Most of us are shackled by tradition.

18 year olds ?

Ards is presumably referring to English ( and Welsh ?) students going to English universities in any case , since , well, you know......

[french frank]

I'm resurrecting this thread just to mention that one of my grand-daughters will be spending the 3rd year of a 4-year language course at a French University. The annual fees are £1200 and she will received an Erasmus 'scholarship' amounting to approx £350 per month.

One wonders why anyone bothers going to a British University?

If you compare it with the UK system, you aren't comparing like with like. Who pays the £1200? For example, no undergraduate in this country would be paying any fees at all. And she has an Erasmus scholarship (so perhaps you're asking the wrong question!).

[jean]

One wonders why anyone bothers going to a British University?

One important reason is that few British undergraduates, except for those actually studying languages, are competent in any language other than their own.

[teamsaint]

One important reason is that few British undergraduates, except for those actually studying languages, are competent in any language other than their own.

Do many European students take their first degree in a foreign university, or not in their first language ?

[subcontrabass]

Do many European students take their first degree in a foreign university, or not in their first language ?

It depends on what you mean by "many". In several countries in other parts of Europe than UK some degree courses are taught through the medium of English. These attract local students as well as foreigners (mainly from UK and USA).