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Post by notanimby on Jan 23, 2012 22:19:54 GMT -1
I have all my books on politics, economics and a few other subjects of ma soshul science course circa1979 not much use I suspect Or even wee notas pharmacy books again outdated so quickly I' m sure these new editions being churned out are just a way of nullifying the second hand market Same here, Nota! Me and my sis've been through our ancient texts as well but even the classic ones have been updated to the point to render the auld yins (almost) useless. Although I did find a text on Plato that's not on her reading list but is still relevant for background. Phew! Another £20 saved, lol! ;D Same as computer games, ain't it? Built in obsolescence. My economics books are a real blast from the past, really are of a different time, you can look at the 1979 texts and see how the soviet economic model and it's 5 year plans "work" Not much on bankers, hedge funds, leveraged accounts etc
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Post by ozneil on Jan 23, 2012 23:12:56 GMT -1
My economics books are a real blast from the past, really are of a different time, you can look at the 1979 texts and see how the soviet economic model and it's 5 year plans "work" Not much on bankers, hedge funds, leveraged accounts etc You think yours are out of date mine are blithering on about an upstart Adam Smith & his radical theories in the Wealth of Nations
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Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2012 17:48:58 GMT -1
No slouch, was Adam! Here's a nice pic for you Oz, main gates of Glasgow Uni. The building named after him's but a mere stagger from Wur Chip ;D The wean has a couple of classes in there. The Smith, not the Chip, lol.. Attachments:
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Post by ozneil on Jan 24, 2012 20:14:43 GMT -1
No slouch, was Adam! Here's a nice pic for you Oz, main gates of Glasgow Uni. The building named after him's but a mere stagger from Wur Chip ;D The wean has a couple of classes in there. The Smith, not the Chip, lol.. no he was a genius. He & Patterson, founder of the Bank of England, did as much as anyone to put the Great in Great Britain and they were both Scots Well I suppose Scots & money .... it figgers
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2012 21:21:58 GMT -1
It's reported that applications for entry to Scottish universities from non-residents has risen substantially this year while applications from residents has fallen by about 10%. You wonder if that's all about Scottish families worrying over getting into horrendous debt or questioning the value of some degrees? Bit of both? Is there a perception that all degrees are not of equal worth, academically speaking? Can I raise the spectre of the Labour party's apparent need to create Universities out of former Colleges of Technology? I'm old enough to remember the difference, and I'd far rather employ someone with a good quali from a tech to a middling degree from a new Uni where the curriculum is easier than a similar degree from an established Uni. Is the notion of a 'degree' being degraded, is my question.
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Post by ozneil on Jan 31, 2012 21:54:31 GMT -1
OK I'll put on my serious hat We, as a professional body, find that universities vary tremendously in the "quality " of the degrees to such an extent that we have demanded, and got, a say in the teaching & standards of teaching. We had a battle with one local Uni about their standard. We said unless the standard was raised we would no longer recognise their degrees & that their graduates would have to undertake a supplementary examination set by our institute similar to that undertaken by overseas applicants (Most UK grads are exempt apart from an interview). Without our recognition their degree was worthless. There was much wailing & gnashing of teeth! Their reasoning being that if they raised the bar a bit they would get less overseas students & may have to cut back on their services. That floored us. Our reply was .... Its your decision. They are raising the standard Now getting really crazy my degree is recognised in UK where I took out membership in UK Institute. (sign and pay £ plzzz ) If I went to work in US my degree wasnt recognised BUT my membership of UK Institute was so I could practice in US ( What a wonderful world)
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Post by ozneil on Jan 31, 2012 22:10:25 GMT -1
Which brings me on to this (serious hat removed)
For years I served on a government selection & promotion panel as an independent member. At one such interview an applicant, from one of the Commonwealth Countries, applied for a job. He had brought along samples of his work. One in particular from the Queensland Government was I considered brilliant & I told the other panel members that after the applicant had left. I also told them I was the author of the document not the applicant
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2012 23:54:31 GMT -1
OK I'll put on my serious hat We, as a professional body, find that universities vary tremendously in the "quality " of the degrees to such an extent that we have demanded, and got, a say in the teaching & standards of teaching. We had a battle with one local Uni about their standard. We said unless the standard was raised we would no longer recognise their degrees & that their graduates would have to undertake a supplementary examination set by our institute similar to that undertaken by overseas applicants (Most UK grads are exempt apart from an interview). Without our recognition their degree was worthless. There was much wailing & gnashing of teeth! Their reasoning being that if they raised the bar a bit they would get less overseas students & may have to cut back on their services. That floored us. Our reply was .... Its your decision. They are raising the standard Well that's exactly it, Oz. Here we are seeing more and more emphasis on attracting wealthy overseas students. Sure, we welcome them and we need them but it does seem that the Unis' need to earn money is becoming paramount when it comes to deciding the percentage of overseas places--- to the point that we now have quotas. A colleague of mine at the RSAMD (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland doncha know) is grieved by the fact that they are required to fill a quota of overseas places while Scottish students are in greater competition at audition as well as exam results. Many fine young Scots are being turned away. Quotas are one issue, and lifelong learning is another. I am totally against those mature students who've already had a shot at higher education taking up places at Uni unless they are going to use their studies to enhance their working career and therefore their ability to contribute back to the tax coffers. I don't disagree with the principle of lifelong education but I am mighty pissed off that scant resources are used at Unis when these courses could be delivered more efficiently (yes I mean more cheaply) in libraries or community centres. Give me one good reason why I should pay for the even-further education of those mature students who've already had their shot in the past? Fair dos if they intend to actually use it but for too many it seems it's down to some seemingly inalienable right to 'personal development'. It feels like funding very expensive day-care for terminally-bored empty-nesters. We all know mature people with two/three/four degrees, funded by us, who're just unwilling to get out in the real world and actually pay their way. Perpetual students. The type that trumpet their qualis but never ever seem to actually USE them to anyone else's benefit Would the uptake be the same if lifelong learning was designated to FE colleges or libraries? Errr...no, because that'd be nothing to boast about in WE coffee shops of course. They need to butt out and leave more places for good, willing young people.
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Post by ozneil on Feb 1, 2012 0:59:05 GMT -1
Another thing about our meetings with that Uni was the Chief Serang of that discipline saying "We aim to educate the whole person not just produce Technocrats!"
One of my competitors a Pom responded " we want competent professional engineers. We leave the ' whole person' education to their wives or girlfriends"
Gees I still hate him for that remark mainly because I didnt think of it!!
But the amount of Bull shit subjects these kids have to do to get their degrees is astounding.
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Post by notanimby on Feb 1, 2012 7:42:56 GMT -1
Which brings me on to this (serious hat removed) For years I served on a government selection & promotion panel as an independent member. At one such interview an applicant, from one of the Commonwealth Countries, applied for a job. He had brought along samples of his work. One in particular from the Queensland Government was I considered brilliant & I told the other panel members that after the applicant had left. I also told them I was the author of the document not the applicant arf arf arf - brillyint
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Post by notanimby on Feb 1, 2012 7:51:43 GMT -1
It's reported that applications for entry to Scottish universities from non-residents has risen substantially this year while applications from residents has fallen by about 10%. You wonder if that's all about Scottish families worrying over getting into horrendous debt or questioning the value of some degrees? Bit of both? Is there a perception that all degrees are not of equal worth, academically speaking? Can I raise the spectre of the Labour party's apparent need to create Universities out of former Colleges of Technology? I'm old enough to remember the difference, and I'd far rather employ someone with a good quali from a tech to a middling degree from a new Uni where the curriculum is easier than a similar degree from an established Uni. Is the notion of a 'degree' being degraded, is my question. Yes I think they are being degraded - every job under the sun apparently needs a degree nowadays - which is pish Similar can be said for HNDs, HNCs and the like too The rot set in mostly because further education is used as a way of massaging the dole figures I know someone who has a Phd in Chemistry, it was the longest they could stay at uni without leaving to get a real job They struggled to get a job, they were sent to the "job club" were they spent their time writing CVs for the illiterate claimants. The person was even sacked by thur ain faither from his engineering business as being hopeless - from memory they now work in events management
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2012 19:15:54 GMT -1
Yeah, pathetic really that they couldn't get MyCampus right. Caused a fair bit of grief to a fair few. But anyways....news reaches me that a group of highly puter literate first years have formed a study group to show the 'administrators' how to improve the system so badly implemented, hahahahahaaaa *sigh* So young.... ;D ;D ;D Excellent, excellent! Enjoy, both of yese. First year drawing to a close, it’s amazing what you find out having a psychology undergrad in the house. Upcoming exams so the wean asked me to test her on her coursework today. I learned LOADS! This time yesterday I never knew that schizophrenia sufferers have a biological vulnerability that is triggered by life stressors, particularly negative emotions such as parental and extended family criticism, hostility and over-protection--- from as young an age as 2. Other later life stressors, clustered close together, can cause later onset. You can have the predisposing genetic makeup but it’s not inevitable you develop the condition. Identical twin studies have shown the correlation’s 48%, if purely genetic it would be 100%. Very very strange. I also learned that the percentage is higher in lower socio-economic backgrounds. And that people with IQs of over 125 are far less likely to be sufferers. (Some kind of gene-pool thing going on there? Differing lifestyles? I dunno..) And that sufferers in third-world countries have better recovery rates long term than those from highly industrialized societies. (Sort of get why that might be..) And the biggest surprise of all really; 0.5 per cent of the population suffer, three times as many as those from diabetes and three times as many as those from Alzheimers. And yet, the last two are given more prominence in terms of visibility and research cash? Why? So this 18 year old enthusiastic and passionate wean explained it all to me this afternoon. I had to take five minutes, because it feels like yesterday she came running to tell me that Pingu’s friend Robby the Seal had hurt his paw and was crying ;D As ever, I’m just eternally grateful to everyone who contributes to the wean’s education through taxes. If Scotland had tuition fees of £35K, I couldn’t have afforded her the opportunity
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Post by ozneil on Apr 21, 2012 21:00:18 GMT -1
Good luck to the wean in her exams, I will keep fingers crossed though Im sure she will fly through them without my use of rabbit's paws and the like.
My youngest grandson is just into his 3rd month of his first year at Uni and loving it. He gets a cheap Government loan (HECS) to pay his fees and books which will be repaid as a % of salary once he starts earning over $30,000 I think.
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Post by notanimby on Apr 21, 2012 21:25:37 GMT -1
*sigh* So young.... ;D ;D ;D Excellent, excellent! Enjoy, both of yese. First year drawing to a close, it’s amazing what you find out having a psychology undergrad in the house. Upcoming exams so the wean asked me to test her on her coursework today. I learned LOADS! This time yesterday I never knew that schizophrenia sufferers have a biological vulnerability that is triggered by life stressors, particularly negative emotions such as parental and extended family criticism, hostility and over-protection--- from as young an age as 2. Other later life stressors, clustered close together, can cause later onset. You can have the predisposing genetic makeup but it’s not inevitable you develop the condition. Identical twin studies have shown the correlation’s 48%, if purely genetic it would be 100%. Very very strange. I also learned that the percentage is higher in lower socio-economic backgrounds. And that people with IQs of over 125 are far less likely to be sufferers. (Some kind of gene-pool thing going on there? Differing lifestyles? I dunno..) And that sufferers in third-world countries have better recovery rates long term than those from highly industrialized societies. (Sort of get why that might be..) And the biggest surprise of all really; 0.5 per cent of the population suffer, three times as many as those from diabetes and three times as many as those from Alzheimers. And yet, the last two are given more prominence in terms of visibility and research cash? Why? So this 18 year old enthusiastic and passionate wean explained it all to me this afternoon. I had to take five minutes, because it feels like yesterday she came running to tell me that Pingu’s friend Robby the Seal had hurt his paw and was crying ;D As ever, I’m just eternally grateful to everyone who contributes to the wean’s education through taxes. If Scotland had tuition fees of £35K, I couldn’t have afforded her the opportunity Jings déjà vu or whut......... Same in oor hoose when nota jnr was at ra uni, ah learned a helluva lot aboot pharmaceutical things Tell ra wean good luck frae us
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2012 22:19:16 GMT -1
Cheers, Oz and Nota, for the good wishes. You're both a bit ahead of me having been through it before. I'd kinda hoped the wean's exam anxiety might have dissipated when she got to Uni, like it'd magically imbue some kind of inner confidence-------but nay. April nightmares, literally; mad mental monsters in dreams (hers) I've telt her recently I still have resit-anxiety dreams 37 years on but I get the feeling she thinks I'm making it up. Genetic predisposition or what? ;D Next week, we're moving on to Moral Philosophy revision. Kinda hoping-- somewhat optimistically-- that I can ditch the course notes and dredge up four years-worth from the hidden recesses of what passes for my brain these days. And if not, I'll just send her this ;D www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QgCfnBtF7M
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