Students read this

DrFluffy

To be fair - if you're not staying in academia, and plan to work in the subject area of your degree, the course quality is far more important than the uni. I chose a slightly 'lesser' uni for my first degree as it was the top course in the country in that subject at that time. It's never held me back...

However, if you're doing a degree for the sake of doing a degree and are not necessarily going to use it, then institution is probably more important...

The_doomed

thats great news. It basically means when I go into full time employment I wont be stuck beside all the ****ing moronic pompus ****s who go to half these unis.

Time for a celebratery pint tonight I think!

Academics are not the best employees!

lellie

Any students with any common sense know that the institution matters considerably when you choose a degree.. An ex-polytechnic is never gonna live up to red brick reputation - but then there are rankings within the lesser universities - there are some which are so much better than others..

kittiwoz

I doubt there are any students who were not already aware that different universities rank differently. Particularly red-bricks are generally held in higher esteem than ex-polytechnics and Oxbridge is generally held in higher regard than the red-bricks (which has always been the case and is probably less pronounced now than it used to be). I think the reason people have expressed disagreement, pbradley936, is not that they think all unis are equal but that the situation is much more complex than you suggest. Universities rank differently for different subjects, it isn't just a simple case of Russel Group good, everyone else bad. A uni that is well respected in one subject may not rank well for another subject. Also, as lellie says, it is very much a sliding scale rather than a good/bad distinction. For people going into jobs where they will be using their degree in a specific way, eg engineering, archaelogy, employers will be aware of the reputations of different courses and departments. For other people going into more general work where they will be using their skills in less direct ways they may have do deal with HR departments who rank universities into broad categories without having any real knowledge of the particular departments involved, in the way that your daughter-in-law's company seems to. Obviously that is a very frustrating thing.

Also some of the former polytechnics have made massive strides in the quality of their courses. A lot of former polytechnics and colleges specialised in certain subjects before being granted university status and some really excel in these areas. For example London Guildhall University (which merged with North London University in 2002 to form London Metropolitan university) was only granted university status in 1992 having previously been City of London Polytechnic but had a great reputation as a specialist in art education. Others are simply broadening the market and giving more people access to a level of education they couldn't achieve otherwise.

As far as "the olden days" goes I think your perceptions of that are probably somewhat dependent on where you were standing at the time. I know that it was seen as far less remarkable for my middle class mother who went to Minchenden to do a degree than it was for my working class dad who was the first boy from his local secondary modern to achieve such heights. This would have been the late 60s. The conversion of polytechincs into universities has opened up opportunities for a lot of people which I think is a good thing. In fact I think the main downside has been the slump in the provision of BTEC and HND courses.

melancholly

The_doomed wrote:

thats great news. It basically means when I go into full time employment I wont be stuck beside all the ****ing moronic pompus ****s who go to half these unis.

i think with an unjustified stereotype of these morons you may find it difficult to get a job! i would be very careful expressing views like this - i personally take offence and that's before i get to the fact that i went to one.

The_doomed

melancholly wrote:

i think with an unjustified stereotype of these morons you may find it difficult to get a job! i would be very careful expressing views like this - i personally take offence and that's before i get to the fact that i went to one.

Unjustified? Nonsense. Look beyond the sandstone walls

Mrs_pbradley936

Kittiwoz,

I have sent you a PM which is just something I posted on another thread. Things got rather heated on that one!

Daniel1234_2

As a student intending to study there, can anyone tell me where St. Andrews stands for an employer? I'm studying computer science, though I may change to politics and philosophy.

In particular I've heard people say "anyone who graduates there can look for a £60,000 salary immediately". (I rather doubt this..) And "It has the best computer science department in Europe". (Well I wouldnt quite say that...)

Anyone clear this up for me? Cheers!

Daniel

Mrs_pbradley936

Daniel you will be fine.

ILoveHenryJames

kittiwoz wrote:

I doubt there are any students who were not already aware that different universities rank differently.

Exactly. Any student who has failed to recognise this is probably going to struggle in the employment market for many more reasons than a simple 'incorrect' choice of university.