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When I was young only about 10% of the popuation went to university. If you got there you didn’t have to pay any tuition fees and living costs were nearly covered. The top 1% went to Oxford or Cambridge. I didn’t make it to either! If you got a degree a job was guaranteed on graduation; it would be a top job from Oxford and Cambridge.
All went well until the late 1990’s when someone in government determined that 50% of the population should go to university. To accommodate this everything was dumbed down. As a lecturer at that time, I witnessed that it was relatively difficult to fail. The difference between at top 2.1 (average close to 70%) and a bottom 2.1 (average just above 60%) was phenomenal. Both students had a certificate showing 2.1!
Degrees now became worthless unless from a top university. Advanced industries in technology such as AI demand an Oxford or Cambridge degree; other professions have a list of favoured universities.
People with limited acadamic ability are lured into doing a degree at a poor university. They graduate with £50k+ in debt and no prospects.
It is a modern day scandal. Many people who you could not class as academic have other skills which are just as good and sometimes better. Such people should take up an apprenticeship to fine tune their skills.Is the problem that there aren’t apprenticeships and that, as a service industry nation there isn’t the work for craftspeople anyway? I think that universities like Nottingham Trent that have close links with industry are good. I remember years ago chatting to an American guy and was horrified when he told me how much debt he was in because of uni fees. When my kids were at uni student loans didn’t have to be paid off with a huge interest rate; that suddenly ( and with very little publicity or notification) ended when my son had left uni. We made sure neither of them started life with a huge debt. If my son gained anything from university it was the friends he made there. For a couple of years after they graduated they all travelled round Europe by train each summer and they still meet up. They seem to share a real bond. Ditto my ex who is still very close to his best friends from uni. Two of them live in Bristol and one of them sadly has dementia and the other one, who lives nearby is supporting him. I wish I’d been encouraged to go to uni when it was free to go to; even though I was quite academic no one seemed to suggest to me that I could do so.
Education has become like most things in the modern world: nothing more than an excuse to make money.
I’m so glad I never went to uni , even more worthless nowadays , I’ve worked with plenty who have degrees who don’t know there arse from there elbow
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Do they know the difference between ‘there’ and ‘their’?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I crawled on six crooked highwaysAt least Manchester won “University Challenge” on Monday night.
Or rather the fellow in the hat did, with the other three occasionally chipping in.
You will find some very bright students at all universities; unfortunately not many off them away from the top universities.
With AI coming in the need for university graduates will lessen and lessen whereas we will always need plumbers, electricians, builders and care workers etc.
Manchester were brilliant weren’t they! Don’t know what we’ll do on Monday nights till it starts up again. The girl on the right of the Edinburgh team was pretty good, too.
Haven’t had much interest in the last series. I find Amol Rajan rushes the questions especially near the end and I don’t always hear them. It’s hard enough answering questions in the first place. I never had a problem with Paxman.
“Manchester were brilliant weren’t they!”
The university now jointly holds the record for the most wins, with five. Much to delight of the Alumni Society, which had an email ready to send early the next morning.
I thought the team relied a little too much on the captain in the early rounds but all four contestants contributed good answers in the semi final, which I thought was their best performance.
Amol Rajan is OK but his slightly matey attitude with some of the contestants grates a little bit sometimes. Paxman certainly wasn’t like that. And while Bamber Gascoigne was so polite and well mannered, he did stay slightly aloof from the teams.
Prob Purwell but I’ve got by in life to be in my late 40s and financially sound , no debt and planning to retire early , you my think a piece of paper from a average uni leaving you in tens of thousands in debt is worth more … is that what you think
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
Didn’t Boris go to Eton …. what a waste of time that was for him and anyone trying to educate the buffoon…
Pick 3 on Saturday champion 2025/2026
My hearing is terrible these days and, at first, I really struggled with how fast Amol spoke. However, either he’s slowed down or I’ve got used to him but I don’t find it a problem now.
For a couple of years after they graduated they all travelled round Europe by train each summer and they still meet up. They seem to share a real bond. Ditto my ex who is still very close to his best friends from uni.
This aspect of university is often overlooked. I barely keep in contact with anyone I knew from school but I still have a reasonable circle of friends from university.
Whilst I didn’t go on to use my degree (in a scientific subject) I wouldn’t trade those three years and all that came out of it for anything. I’m reasonably well paid and life is good despite the various ills in the world.
It was cheaper back then as it was before the most recent eye watering increase which I have to say would make me think twice. Fees should be lower but entry tougher if you ask me. This should be coupled with better investment in providing opportunities outside the world of academia. I realise none of this will ever happen.
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