RIP: the University of Wales

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15410424

... rather a shoddy end to a fine institution. Aberystwyth was the only venue in the UK outside London where Bartok ever performed and William Matthias put so much energy into making the Music Department at Bangor so successful.

The individual "University Colleges" will continue, and, I hope, thrive and maybe Aberystwyth will reintroduce Music Degrees under the new "impetus". But it does seem a sad way to have to end.

Any MBers have any memories of the Welsh University system?

[french frank]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15410424Any MBers have any memories of the Welsh University system?

No, I've never quite understood which institutions it comprised. I thought at one time all the Welsh universities (including Cardiff and Swansea) came under the umbrella of the U o W but that doesn't seem to have been the case in recent years.

Not quite sure what happened here - just a lack of vigilance?

[MrGongGong]

Sadly, its extremely unlikely that any institution that has "lost" a music department is going to re-introduce one
the current trend for fewer and fewer students taking music GCSE & A level (largely due to the ridiculous E-bacc ) is likely to increase if, as expected, music ceases to be on the national curriculum.

Bangor's department, seems to be very strong these days (though the roof in the library was leaking last time I was there )

[Flosshilde]

No, I've never quite understood which institutions it comprised.

Extraordinarily difficult to find out which institutions are included, even from the UW website. It would seem to be Aberystwyth, Swansea, Caernarfon & Newtown
with the admin & University Press based in Cardiff. I would guess that Aberystwyth is big enough to continue independently, but Newtown?

I went to the College of Librarianship Wales in Aberystwyth 1971-72 - it was independent then, but later became part of the university.

[handsomefortune]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15411496

[french frank]

Extraordinarily difficult to find out which institutions are included, even from the UW website. It would seem to be Aberystwyth, Swansea, Caernarfon & Newtown with the admin & University Press based in Cardiff.

I'm still searching. I can only find reference to the University of Wales: Trinity St David (NB the colon) and Swansea Metropolitan University (of which I'd never heard).

Wasn't the problem that UoW was 'validating' degrees from various tinpot overseas colleges which allowed students to gain qualifications after a week's study somewhere? I think it started out as Cardiff, Bangor, Aberystwyth and Swansea - and that all these have now gone their separate ways. UoW has taken various other institutions under its wing and merged with Trinity St David.

[vinteuil]

I'm still searching. I can only find reference to the University of Wales: Trinity St David (NB the colon) and Swansea Metropolitan University (of which I'd never heard).
.

if you google - university of wales london

there are various institutions (Kensington College of Business? City of London College?? London School of Business and Finance???) of which I had never heard...

[doversoul1]

The link posted by handsomefortune #5 seems to explain the system/structure reasonably well.

What I find it very sad is that universities are now so driven to find enough fund that they are becoming business organisations but with little experience and expertise. I know some universities have an ‘expert’ business department but most don’t. Lecturers are sent out to all corners of the world to ‘market’ the university or to find ‘partners’ within and outside the UK. I shan’t be surprised if this is to be the first of many similar cases.

[greenilex]

From my researches from the top of the 26 and other East London bus routes, it seems to me that many one-room institutions with global -type names are based in that area. Mostly to provide visas, I guess.

[Flosshilde]

Doversoul, the article explains the new/future set up, but not the institutions that formed the U of W in the past.

[doversoul1]

Flosshilde
Thank you for pointing out. I thought it was the same as this article as it has the identical photograph.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15378318

This is part of the article/news.

Rayat London College has been suspended by the UK Border Agency and prevented from recruiting overseas students.
The college is one of 130 around the world approved by the University of Wales to design and teach courses leading to its degrees.
Each partnership is assigned a moderator who reports back to the university, often a member of staff at other Welsh universities.
Last year BBC Wales revealed Fazley Yaakob, a pop star with two bogus degrees, was running a college offering UoW courses in Malaysia.

[Simon]

It's great news, albeit sad. Anything that prevents unwanted foreign scroungers from getting visas to come over into the UK under the pretence of being students, and who then disappear into the black economy and claim everything then can from our welfare systems, can only be a good thing.

Serves those Uni administrators involved in the scam right for being corrupt: I hope they all are prosecuted to the full extent of the law and never work again in any sector where they can subvert our laws and our nation. But it's unlikely. I see that already one of the major players in the administrative system is being called "a man of integrity" for having resigned... If he knew, he had no integrity. If he didn't know he wasn't doing his job properly. Good riddance.

[Lateralthinking1]

From hf's link:

Vice-chancellor Medwin Hughes said the new organisation was a "strong brand".....

Prof Medwin Hughes, said the three institutions would now be "recreated" under a new brand.

"Wales needs strong brands. You don't throw away a name - Wales...."

Luke Young, president of National Union of Students (NUS) Wales said......merging with Trinity St David and Swansea Metropolitan University was a "better evolutionary process than simply scrapping the brand altogether".

Brand, Brand, Brand, Brand. There's the problem. After more than a century, the change agenda. Branding first. Cheating second. Is this branding they mention in socialist Wales half branding or full branding?

Half means that the university continues to act by right like a company that makes supermarket products. However, when it comes to responsibility, it will for the sake of protecting its position become all traditionally academic. Not really like that at all.

Full might well mean that it should financially compensate every existing student for arguably misrepresenting its product at the time of their applications. The degrees that they are working towards may have less value in the future because of this corruption. Financial compensation would be fair to them - their right - and really ensure that what has occurred never happens again.

[MrGongGong]

It's great news, albeit sad. Anything that prevents unwanted foreign scroungers from getting visas to come over into the UK under the pretence of being students, and who then disappear into the black economy and claim everything then can from our welfare systems, can only be a good thing.

.

They are hiding under your floorboards waiting for a chance to steal your collection of Choral Evensong recordings !

the prize for non sequitur of the day goes (again !!) to the esteemed professor

[ahinton]

Aberystwyth was the only venue in the UK outside London where Bartok ever performed

Oh no it wasn't! He gave two recitals in the 1930s in Glasgow under the auspices of the Active Society for the Propagation of Contemporary Music which was run, more or less single-handedly from around 1929-1937, by its founder Erik Chisholm, the Scottish composer, pianist, organist, teacher, conductor, arts adminstrator and (one hopes and assumes) malt whisky consumer who earned himself the nickname MacBartók (other major composer/pianists who did the same were Medtner, Szymanowski and Sorabji).