Student Fees Protest - Wednesday 9th November

To the person who wrote about what is the point in maths, engineering degrees etc in Britain why not do something like media - what a load of tripe.

Britain has some of the world's leading engineering firms in the fields of oil, mining etc with big bases here and many more people educated at British universities who work on oil rigs, mines around the world. These vocations require hard work, dedication, looking to broaden horizons beyond these shores and time to achieve rewards - something that many young people I meet (such as my step brother who got an electrical engineering degree from S'hampton but won't look at such jobs - idiot, his starting salary at a mine in Australia would be A$140k, about £100k) just don't get. These industries are crying out for talent but we on our small island are just too narrow minded to look out and grasp this. In 15 years time it will be too late as talented graduates from China, India etc will take these opportunities.
It is tough for those people doing say English degrees at top universities who want to persue a more academic route but the £12k threshold is there for them. Doing some soft degree at a 3rd rate uni is a waste of time - 2 essays a term or the like is a joke - I'd protest about having to pay £9k a year for that. Find an apprenticeship / internship - employers love real world experience.
I also think cost of housing in Britain is prohibitive for young people who want to embark of a career that takes years to build - if rents were more affordable etc then earning less in the early years would be ok (or maybe everyone should realise they don't have a right to all the latest new gadgets - wonder how mnay of the protesters have a £400 iPhone....)
Rant over.
 
There are research positions in many fields of science/engineering too, if that floats your boat.

/echoing on from nommy.
 
Always makes me laugh want the UK/England complains at university tuition costs. Where my partner is a professor in the US the students pay $55K a year plus living costs plus additional costs such as course material. When UK students start paying upwards of £30K a year then let the discussions commence otherwise the students should shut up and appreciate how cheap their education is. I certainly appreciate how cheap mine was compared to my colleagues and friends and would have a happily paid much more to get the same quality.
 
D.P. said:
Always makes me laugh want the UK/England complains at university tuition costs. Where my partner is a professor in the US the students pay $55K a year plus living costs plus additional costs such as course material. When UK students start paying upwards of £30K a year then let the discussions commence otherwise the students should shut up and appreciate how cheap their education is. I certainly appreciate how cheap mine was compared to my colleagues and friends and would have a happily paid much more to get the same quality.
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Well I think that's one of the reasons why we complain so much - we can see that we're heading towards an awful US style system like you describe and would quite like to avoid that actually.
 
OldCoals said:
Why should the state fund everything?

I think degrees in the sciences, engineering and maths should be free, lifestyle degrees, fund them yourself to be honest.
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This already sort-of happens at the universities - when I was at Sheffield, bursaries were only offered to people who did certain subjects. Can't remember the full list but I think it was physical sciences, mathematics, engineering and archaeology (or something slightly odd). My housemate, who did Philosophy, always complained it was unfair - it was also unfair that (apparently) it was much easier to get a first in engineering. Even though the same number of people got firsts in our year for BA Philosophy & BEng Chem Eng :p
 
meh saw some oxford students mingling to get on the bus for this today - zero sympathy.

an education is what you make it, if you do a sensible career defining degree then cost surely should never be an issue...if you **** away 3/4 years doing something completely retarded just so you can have the 'experience' and 'to get smashed' then its your own fault and dont come crying to me when your X in debt without a decent job to pay it back with.
 
Nexus said:
What are people's thoughts?
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The police will not be allowed to do anything.
An officer will accidentally brush against someone and hurt their feelings, they'll then be suspended and universally hated by the media.
Some "protestors" will make fools out of themselves by giving interviews on TV, we'll have a good laugh at their expense.
Damage will be done to property/businesses and it will all cost a lot of money.

Nothing will be achieved, but the public will dislike students a little more for causing hassle.

Those are my predictions.
 
[TW]Fox;20519459 said:
No, we contributed only a fraction of the cost.
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I'm trying to find out for certain, but I don't think the LEA contribution per student has changed, so while proportionally greater, it is still less than the governments contribution. The central per institution funding has been cut, the per student funding hasn't, hence the increase to 3k fees being called top up fees.

I think that an educated population is a worthy investment for us as a society, I think that the same funding should go towards a variety of education routes, including more vocational training. I also think that we as a country should be investing more in research.

I do see your point about graduates contributing to something from which they will ultimately benefit, but really see it more as a matter of commitment, and while in my ideal society higher education would be free for all, I think the top up fees level of £3k/year (with inflation linked increases) was appropriate. It meant that people would graduate with debt roughly equivalent to a years earnings at the threshold above which they'd pay it back.
 
simulatorman said:
At least this time they've got some rubber bullets waiting for them.
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Really?

:cool:

[FnG]magnolia;20519592 said:
I AM the 99 PERCE .. oof! aargh! Oh Christ, mummy, fire up the Porsche!
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"Go on then, shoot me! I'm filming it all on my brand new iPhone 4S."

:o

If they do have rubber bullets/water cannons, 99% of them wouldn't even bother.
 
scorza said:
Well I think that's one of the reasons why we complain so much - we can see that we're heading towards an awful US style system like you describe and would quite like to avoid that actually.
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Things are a long, long way from being like the US, and furthermore, the US system is not as bad as you imply.

I don't really see the problem with students paying closer to the true price of their education with some degree of social financing and mechanisms to ensure that underprivileged children can still go to university.

One should view a university education as an investment which you hope to pay off with increased salaries down the line. The Reason many US students pay $50K a year or more is because if they go to a good university study a worthwhile degree and get a reasonable grade they can be on a starting salary in excess of $100K a year.

Part of the problem in the UK is that jobs that do require a good degree are under paid, this needs to change. This is the reason I left the UK and doubt I will ever go back, many others the same. As the post higher up says, a degree in engineering and you can get up to £100K starting salary in Australia. A good Masters in Management/finance/Economics with a strong quantitative component will net you a £100-140K a year in Switzerland. A good CS grad with some economics interest could go for a Quantitative Analyst position in New York of $250K a year.
 
I think a lot of people concerned/ complaining feel they don't get good value for money.
I would argue that outside of the top few universities that even 3k would be pushing it.

Hell i don't feel like I'm getting good value for money at 3k (Birmingham), neither does a friend of my other half who's just finished (and got a well paid job) child psychology at Coventry, and speaking to other students at the daft IQER conference i had to attend (representing yo!) from Bristol, Leeds, Manchester etc, they feel the same way.

It probably feels different for some of the more hands on courses like Engineering or Science, but we feel we've been basically paying for a very expensive hole in the wall to push assignments through and get graded.

-edit-
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure the job at the end of it will (hopefully) be worth the expense, but we can't help but feel our fees are already only at 3k to prop up other courses. All we really have is a lecture once a month. Programming doesn't need a lot of resources really, so i imagine i'd be even more hacked off if i had to pay 9k
 
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