tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post3838661230281745924..comments2024-01-18T10:54:54.459+00:00Comments on Iain Macwhirter Now and Then: Let's close Glasgow University. Who needs degrees anyway?iain macwhirterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14486911281896217461noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-587507967979012352017-06-05T10:04:27.337+01:002017-06-05T10:04:27.337+01:00Awesome details, many thanks to the writer. It is ...Awesome details, many thanks to the writer. It is incomprehensive to me now, but in common, the effectiveness and importance is frustrating. Thanks again and fantastic luck!voyance emailhttp://energie-voyance.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-82201782432342227912011-08-22T18:13:50.312+01:002011-08-22T18:13:50.312+01:00Most of the uk university degrees are strongly dev...Most of the uk university degrees are strongly devalued nowadays because of the way the system is financed. In fact the uk degrees worth nearly nothing internationally. I've been teaching in some leading German, US, and UK universities for quite a while and know the difference. In my company I'll never employ anyone with uk university degree.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-87112399965960272572011-05-09T10:06:17.677+01:002011-05-09T10:06:17.677+01:00Who cares if Glasgow goes bankrupt?
Seriously, I...Who cares if Glasgow goes bankrupt? <br /><br />Seriously, I did Physics at Edinburgh and the material we were taught in 2nd year was what they got taught on their Masters courses. Glasgow University, like the city itself, is a dilapidated joke for 2nd raters whose time at university is irrelevant in the long run anyhow. <br /><br />HE funding needs an overhaul and stripping. People are free to go to the Open Uni if they want, and it is better than Glasgow anyhow.<br /><br />Glasgow is a dump, the indigenous people are for the most part loathsome masonic bigots who are a stain on civilised life.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-20362989857895990992011-02-24T10:46:36.090+00:002011-02-24T10:46:36.090+00:00Bleeding Stumps, yes indeed. I was with Glasgow Di...Bleeding Stumps, yes indeed. I was with Glasgow District Council (as it then was) when the Thatcher rate-capping was introduced. They immediately withdrew school crossing wardens. Olé!<br /><br />Graffito above toilet roll holder in Scottish University: 'Sociology degrees - please take one'. However I think we may be moving into times when the more academic subjects (philosphy, history, classics) will be the more necessary. They inculcate a dangerous and desirable capacity for independent thought. As someone said, education is what you're left with when you've forgotten all they taught you.Vronskyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17797785918817375436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-7410732514443730102011-02-12T23:38:25.780+00:002011-02-12T23:38:25.780+00:00where's george ?
Can you please explain why M...where's george ?<br /><br />Can you please explain why Muscatteli 5 years was all for Full Fiscal Autonomy yet under the Calman stitch up income tax was all that was required. <br />It wouldn't be on his climb up the greasy pole to the chance of getting some ermine around his neck that he has a complete about turn over something as complex as this eh?<br />I suspect rather than inviting Ken Dodd to the childrens party he would be more likely to invite Sweeny Todd as he would then get paid twice as that is his motivation.cynicalHighlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06034325908473006163noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-77226184531523895512011-02-12T21:36:50.850+00:002011-02-12T21:36:50.850+00:00Hmmmm, the thing is Iain, you suggest here that a ...Hmmmm, the thing is Iain, you suggest here that a university education automatically gives the employer a quality employee. Sorry but you couldn't be more wrong: many arrive with appalling standards in English and numeracy. How can we justify the costs when the end product is generally pretty awful? The even worse news is that many with poor skills in the aforementioned subjects go on to teach. Maybe this has been going on for so long that it finally explains all the A passes being achieved in Higher English these days. The papers are being corrected by illiterates.Jo Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08536467440869239587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-54307783627367330062011-02-11T17:02:43.659+00:002011-02-11T17:02:43.659+00:00cynical..
" All I have heard and read about ...cynical..<br /><br />" All I have heard and read about Muscatteli is that he is not fit to run a childrens party let alone a Uni."<br /><br />George Laird used to comment on him a lot. Hope he hasn't woken up with a horses head in his bed as I've not seen him so much these days.where's george ?noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-21689985104800713462011-02-11T14:57:36.681+00:002011-02-11T14:57:36.681+00:00"Modern apprenticeships and vocational qualif..."Modern apprenticeships and vocational qualifications have a great deal to offer."<br /><br />Of course they do, arguably more than a degree in some cases.<br /><br />I think part of the problem is the perception of 'vocational' learning as one step away from the old YTS. 'Vocational' learning could and does take account of the fact that, at the end of the day, the object is to be better skilled rather than better educated - learning to do a job rather than learning for learning's sake. <br /><br />Beyond that, there is no reason why vocational courses should not be as challenging as a traditional, 'academic' degree. Most 'creative' degrees (Film, various IT courses, design) could easily be taught 'vocationally' and many are.<br /><br />The important thing about vocational teaching is that has to create opportunities for working as well as learning - hence more vocational courses are flexible and taught on a part-time or evening basis. This, I suspect, is one of the reasons they're looked down upon as being less 'intensive' than 4 years in the Student Union. This is snobbishness, pure and simple. Many people taking vocational courses are far more committed to learning precisely because they are juggling their course and their job. Time is precious when you have little of it - something that's rarely said of the average UK undergraduate.<br /><br />None of the above, however, should take away from the fact that there is value in learning for learning's sake. It is desperately important that we do not commodify learning. Education is a social good, in and of itself. A better educated society is wealthier, more productive, suffers less crime and lives longer and more healthily than a poorly educated one. <br /><br />We must never let the debate over funding learning get away from the fact that learning funds us - insofar as it supports just about everything our society needs in order for us all to live happy, fulfilled lives.Bandages For Konjicnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-17308491729222822952011-02-11T02:13:45.602+00:002011-02-11T02:13:45.602+00:00Well Iain, although I am a staunch supporter of fr...Well Iain, although I am a staunch supporter of free university education, I think there needs to be a serious discussion as to whether degrees really are all they are cracked up to be. I wrote <a href="http://albamatters.blogspot.com/2010/12/its-educational-is-it-though.html" rel="nofollow">a blog</a> a couple of months ago detailing my views on just how worthwhile degrees actually are and some examples of useless degrees I know, so i won't repeat it here. But put it this way: I'm currently involved in training people to go offshore to work on oil platforms, and I am confident these people are easily earning double what I earn. These are people who have largely never been to university, and yet here's me, effectively with two degrees, doing a very averagely-paid job. There are extenuating circumstances, but I've long felt that all a degree is good for is getting your foot in the door (especially after your first job, where all people care about is your previous employment, and not your education). Is that really all a degree should boil down to - a very small (potential) nudge up the career ladder?<br /><br />Just because certain employers have started demanding degrees as minimum requirements does not mean that they are right to do so. Are we really supposed to think that nurses could not learn all they need to know on the job? Does having a degree in photography really prove someone is more capable of taking good photographs than a lifelong photography hobbyist? And I can tell you for a fact that the best computer programmers are those that learnt what they know outside of university - I even studied with one who was doing his degree purely for the sake of getting the degree, and not to further his computing knowledge. He needed the degree to prove to employers that he was a capable programmer, because despite being brilliant at it before he even set foot in a university, computing jobs all ask for a degree as a minimum requirement.<br /><br />University should be for learning - enhanced job prospects should just be a handy side effect, rather than the main purpose. Somewhere down the line, we've lost sight of what makes education so truly great.<br /><br />Speaking of Muscatelli, there's an interesting little post by <a href="http://scotsandindependent.blogspot.com/2011/02/boom.html" rel="nofollow">Richard Thomson's blog</a>.Doug Danielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15017218581660887134noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22403989.post-82256426626661404872011-02-10T21:12:52.562+00:002011-02-10T21:12:52.562+00:00Have stopped listening to "Kaye in her box ta...Have stopped listening to "Kaye in her box talking about what I want to talk about" on radio labour in Scotland. Try listening to Radio Wales at 12.00pm phone in a completely different quality class. All I have heard and read about Muscatteli is that he is not fit to run a childrens party let alone a Uni.cynicalHighlanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06034325908473006163noreply@blogger.com