Ok programming directly in assembler (or even in binary!) isn’t something I’ve ever used, however it did teach me a lot about how computers actually worked and that has proved useful.

I didn’t see the point of 68000 when I did mine so my brother did my assignments. He was 12 at the time. He was writing emulators at 15. His degree was an utter waste of time.

He’s one of many like him that I know. Some who had a nice time learning nothing doing degrees, some who didn’t bother. There is no correlation between success and degrees. In fact two of the most technical and successful people I know in IT started work at 16.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed my degree no end. I learnt noting and it was an utter waste of time. Which is why it was so much fun :o)

Check out where most Process Engineers work…………..

Then look at where accountants end up………..

Point noted… but what about nurses, social workers, teachers…?

And what about people that would otherwise actually want to be engineers?

I’d guess half the people I know were beyond degree level before they did their degrees. Admittedly software is a funny world.

I think I was way programming things way beyond the level of complexity of the programming taught on my degree (was already making money at times doing C++, assembly language etc.), as were a load of people on my course. But there were some sort of theoretical things I didn’t know about at the time that actually turn out to be dead useful in real life programming, that I wouldn’t have come upon otherwise.

Joe

I wouldnt say my Mechanical BEng was particularly easy. But it was part time, 1-day a week & I had to do a full-time job as well. The day was pretty full, & I recall the full-time students only did our classes plus another two. Was it worth £6-£9k a year…no chance. My employer picked up the tab, not sure what it cost but dont think it was over £1k a year. Thoroughly enjoyed it though.

Crikey. Where did you do your degree? I did my MEng in Mech Eng, I think the least number of hours of lectures I ever had was about 25 hours. Then add the not inconsiderable amount of reading (which I guess could be seem as semi optional? at least if you’re very good at maths). Pretty much all the way through I had to do a few hours of coursework / questions (lecutures liked to check we were doing stuff in the tutorials!) every night apart and weekends. The MEng year was mental (they decieded to pack a year long course into 6 months) – that was 40 hour weeks of lectures, plus writing up a final project, plus tons of course work that lasted until 1am most nights. Certainly the hardest I’ve ever worked – i’m now a management consultant which isn’t a industry renowned for it’s work life balance either!

As for whether it’s worth it (got me a job, had a great time, ran a students union, lived with 14 nurses, etc etc!), I’d say yes it is, but in the same breathe i’ll be anti fees until my dying day.

The people of the UK have taken a mortage out against anyone under 30 and the young people of UK are now having to make up the repayments (see house prices, student fees, debt crisis, health care for the elderly, free bus passes for the over 60 ffs!).

No problem at all. You’d need motivated people of course.

Six weeks? A selection of my uni courses (off the top of my head):

Calculus, Complex Numbers and Geometry, Database Theory, Algorithms and Data Structures, History & Philosophy of Computer Design, 3D graphics, object-oriented programming, Functional programming, Imperative programming, Logic programming, Low level programming, System analysis and Design, human computer interaction, artificial intelligence, English Literature, Psychology.

Most of those were 40 or 80 hour courses with practical labs, assignments and essays on top.

The current courses look much the same:
http://www.strath.ac.uk/cis/courses/bschonourscomputerscience/

*awaits spokescycles input on the state of education and the conservative government*

We were told there’d only been one 1st on my degree so wasn’t so miffed that I got a 2.2. When I then did my MSc I came quite close to a distinction – 66% and needed 70%. The MSc was from a pretty good Uni.

Regarding humanities, i did Geography 20 years ago, but spent most of my time in the lab studying mud. My course was one of the first modular degrees and hence i got to study a bit of human geopgraphy/social wishy washy stuff as well as my core geology and physical geography. It was obvious to me I would have breezed a 2:1 if i hand done the wishy washy stuff. Instead I got a Third due to various reasons although i worked hard and got largely 2:1 grades during my final year. Which is why I went back to do a Masters.

During my time computer science was seen as a right micky mouse subject while History was for the intellectuals and good looking girls.

During my time computer science was seen as a right micky mouse subject while History was for the intellectuals and good looking girls.

When I went to uni computer science wasn’t mainstream yet but it was obvious to me that there was money to be made at it, which is why I switched to it as my main subject instead of Chemistry.

Psychology was where the good looking girls were, so I did that as well!

In my experience most people I knew got degrees so that the could get the certificate and get a good job in a company that did nothing at all related to their subject.

If you wanted to go to the likes of the big 4 (Accountants) then they don’t look for accountancy qualifications just a level of numeracy and intelligence. I know plenty on my course went on to do coorporate stuff that was nothing relatied to chemistry. The Likes of Accenture, another big well paying graduate employer takes on anyone from liguists through to biologists, no bother if you know nothing about IT. Then there are others, GSK took someone I know to do purchasing with a geography degree. I went into a general management posistion with a chemistry degree.

Still all these people got firsts from red brick universities and on “proper” courses.

I studied for 4 years, I could have done it in 3 comfortably, probably 2 if I’d done 8-5 with 25 days holiday a year.

Just saw someone on a ‘social newtwork’ site post: ‘If you can’t afford university then don’t go… don’t expect the taxpayer to foot the bill’

😯

I’m not necessarily saying that higher education should be 100% free, but what is this, the 19th century? Why not extend this attitude to healthcare? Should A-levels be free? Not everyone takes them…

Personally I would have been more in favour of reducing total admissions, trying somehow to reduce the number of trivial/dubious courses and making the courses shorter and more intensive, but not increasing fees as significantly…

Unfortunately some of the students demonstrating against fee rises aren’t helping their cause.

There’s a few things to note in this discussion:

1) Degree contents, usefullness and employability afterwards vary MASSIVELY from univeristy to university, and from course to course within each university – you should pick one that does what you want.

2) It’s NOT like GCSE/A Levels where the course content is pretty much fixed, generally the core stuff is taught but extra modules depend on the staff available. Go to a Uni with good staff in the areas you wish to study. If you don’t know at the age of 17/18 what you want to study and find interesting maybe you’re not cut out for University, but at least cover all angles.

3) Many degrees, even science/engineering degrees, are of of varying quality even in good institutions. One thing the fee rise may do is at least make people assess whether the course they are going to does the trick. This is a good thing. It may also make people think twice about whether they should be doing a degree in a subject when they have absolutely no plans to work in or with that qualification.

4) One of the big problems I see is that people often do degrees because they think it’s the logical next step and “everyone does it so I will”, alsmost a lifestyle choice. Not great. It means that state-funded university education is no longer a functional model and the output from universities is weakened. From my group of old friends I know a good 4 or 5 who did Geography and have never EVER used it since, it’s unlocked doors simply because back then a degree was classed as a sign of commitment even if it wasn’t a job in a related field. But now I’m not sure that holds water at all. And as such all degrees are being “watered down” in both content and meaning.

While I’m all for anyone being able to go to university if they have the skills to do so, I do worry that the constant grasp for more students and more funding from students is simply dropping intake quality in favour of the “we’re an inclusive university” mentality.

Unfortunately some of the students demonstrating against fee rises aren’t helping their cause.

fify 🙂

fify 😉

It’s also worth noting that different to A levels most study at Uni should be away from lectures, although 3 hours contact a week etc is a joke.

I’m also big on choosing a Uni/course which offers you more than just a good course. I saw many of my friends bin their degree or change Uni because they just did not enjoy the City or lifestyle at the particular establishment. I’d find it a real shame that you can spend 3 years with people and not have at leaast some friends for life.

From my experience, degrees were to demonstrate achievement to employers, the subject less important. These days, partly due to the huge variety on offer, there seems a pressure to match degree choice to career choice – at 18!

I find all this talk of ‘what use are media studies etc degrees’ quite interesting. Having graduated in such a field, I see that most of the people on my course have gone on to careers in the Meeja, and are mostly doing pretty well. Journalism, TV/Radio, Music, Arts, Teaching, Film, even Law. I’m probbly the least ‘successful’ in financial terms!

For me Uni was one of the best things I’ve ever done, and the experience helped me define who I am. To be honest, a big chunk of what I was supposed to study I found boring, but there was stuff I found fascinating. And all the time, I find myself in situations where my education is of benefit. It’s certainly of much use to me in my current field of work, for sure.

Coming from a poor area, I also observe that of all my peers, it’s the ones that have pursued education that have achieved more, and actually mainly have happier lives. Education opens up opportunities otherwise unavailable to many people. The chance to mix with others, share ideas, earn from your peers, expand your mind and your horizons is something that should be accessible to all, regardless of wealth.

Value for money? Without doubt.

Should it be the ‘right’ for anyone who wants to study? Without doubt.

For too long, Higher Education has been seen as a privilege, something only the more affluent classes had the ‘right’ to. The fact that even scrotes like me can get a decent edukashun these days is something that really irks the Toffs, hence their attempts to return it to being the preserve of an affluent Elite once more.

Trouble with a highly educated population, is that they tend to get ideas above their station, and start to see what the Elite are really all about….

First year was largely a waste of time, it didn’t count for anything, you just had to pass. Some will argue that the first year is necessary to gain the knowledge required for the 2nd and 3rd years but I saw little evidence of that in my degree. Why spend 10 grand completing a year with so little value?

In terms of scheduled contact time, I can’t really complain, I had more than 20 hours per week, but very little of it was valuable. I didn’t really feel my degree was a worthwhile way to spend money 10 years ago, there’s no way I can see that it was worth 9 grand a year.

But I doubt that my 17 year old self applying to university would have had the experience to make this judgement. I think to expect the average 17/18 year old to be able to make a sensible judgement on whether to go and what to study is a little unreasonable, especially those who come from a background of non-university attendance.