New face covering measures

elsien

Young relative has just started at a university. Even with all the restrictions he wanted to go, and felt he would benefit more than from staying at home. 

They’ve not all had their arms twisted to be there in person. 

Aranyani

ToxicWomble said:

Jeremy535897 said:

ToxicWomble said:

The problem as I understand it is that if the unis hadn’t opened up for new starters this year and hasn’t been In receipt of the fees then a large proportion of them would have gone bust

I think a lot of students will rightly question why they have to be the ones to do the supporting, particularly as it seems to put them at greater risk of coronavirus for very little benefit, if their courses are mostly online and they can't go anywhere.

I kind of agree - my spouse works at a uni.

However, the students were all complaining that they were being robbed of their life experience of uni and wanted a refund if the courses were only online.
From what I gather the content is just as good and if anything is more time consuming and expensive to prepare and deliver (possibly prep costs would be lower in subsequent years)
Some course as well are totally unsuitable for online delivery
Another incidence of damned if we do, damned if we don’t 

I'm doing an online post grad course at the moment.  Its nowhere near the quality of an in person taught course of study sadly, although it is definitely hard work for the teaching staff. 

Aranyani

gettingtheresometime said:

ToxicWomble said:

Jeremy535897 said:

ToxicWomble said:

The problem as I understand it is that if the unis hadn’t opened up for new starters this year and hasn’t been In receipt of the fees then a large proportion of them would have gone bust

I think a lot of students will rightly question why they have to be the ones to do the supporting, particularly as it seems to put them at greater risk of coronavirus for very little benefit, if their courses are mostly online and they can't go anywhere.

I kind of agree - my spouse works at a uni.

However, the students were all complaining that they were being robbed of their life experience of uni and wanted a refund if the courses were only online.
From what I gather the content is just as good and if anything is more time consuming and expensive to prepare and deliver (possibly prep costs would be lower in subsequent years)
Some course as well are totally unsuitable for online delivery
Another incidence of damned if we do, damned if we don’t 

You do have to wonder what they were expecting, given the world that they had lived in for the past 6 months.
The 'uni experience' was one reason being given for many to defer their places until next year which, imo, could have resolved the issue of the exam results farce in one easy decision.

And how would the universities have survived that year?

Jeremy535897

Aranyani said:

gettingtheresometime said:

ToxicWomble said:

Jeremy535897 said:

ToxicWomble said:

The problem as I understand it is that if the unis hadn’t opened up for new starters this year and hasn’t been In receipt of the fees then a large proportion of them would have gone bust

I think a lot of students will rightly question why they have to be the ones to do the supporting, particularly as it seems to put them at greater risk of coronavirus for very little benefit, if their courses are mostly online and they can't go anywhere.

I kind of agree - my spouse works at a uni.

However, the students were all complaining that they were being robbed of their life experience of uni and wanted a refund if the courses were only online.
From what I gather the content is just as good and if anything is more time consuming and expensive to prepare and deliver (possibly prep costs would be lower in subsequent years)
Some course as well are totally unsuitable for online delivery
Another incidence of damned if we do, damned if we don’t 

You do have to wonder what they were expecting, given the world that they had lived in for the past 6 months.
The 'uni experience' was one reason being given for many to defer their places until next year which, imo, could have resolved the issue of the exam results farce in one easy decision.

And how would the universities have survived that year?

Presumably the same way they used to before fees were introduced: the government funded them, as they still do in Scotland.

Aranyani

Jeremy535897 said:

Aranyani said:

gettingtheresometime said:

ToxicWomble said:

Jeremy535897 said:

ToxicWomble said:

The problem as I understand it is that if the unis hadn’t opened up for new starters this year and hasn’t been In receipt of the fees then a large proportion of them would have gone bust

I think a lot of students will rightly question why they have to be the ones to do the supporting, particularly as it seems to put them at greater risk of coronavirus for very little benefit, if their courses are mostly online and they can't go anywhere.

I kind of agree - my spouse works at a uni.

However, the students were all complaining that they were being robbed of their life experience of uni and wanted a refund if the courses were only online.
From what I gather the content is just as good and if anything is more time consuming and expensive to prepare and deliver (possibly prep costs would be lower in subsequent years)
Some course as well are totally unsuitable for online delivery
Another incidence of damned if we do, damned if we don’t 

You do have to wonder what they were expecting, given the world that they had lived in for the past 6 months.
The 'uni experience' was one reason being given for many to defer their places until next year which, imo, could have resolved the issue of the exam results farce in one easy decision.

And how would the universities have survived that year?

Presumably the same way they used to before fees were introduced: the government funded them, as they still do in Scotland.

Do you want to tell the government or shall I?

ladyholly

The government does not have any money. They act as intermediaries in deciding where our money is spent. Every time someone says the government they mean the tax paying public which means all of us including the child spending their pocket money. 

jimi_man

ToxicWomble said:

Jeremy535897 said:

ToxicWomble said:

The problem as I understand it is that if the unis hadn’t opened up for new starters this year and hasn’t been In receipt of the fees then a large proportion of them would have gone bust

I think a lot of students will rightly question why they have to be the ones to do the supporting, particularly as it seems to put them at greater risk of coronavirus for very little benefit, if their courses are mostly online and they can't go anywhere.

I kind of agree - my spouse works at a uni.

However, the students were all complaining that they were being robbed of their life experience of uni and wanted a refund if the courses were only online.
From what I gather the content is just as good and if anything is more time consuming and expensive to prepare and deliver (possibly prep costs would be lower in subsequent years)
Some course as well are totally unsuitable for online delivery
Another incidence of damned if we do, damned if we don’t 

No access to the library, no study groups (yes I know there is Zoom or whatever but we all know, that like remote working, it's not a proper substitute), a few Powerpoints to download seems a big ask to expect people to pay £9000+ for. And that's before talking about the acommodation costs. I suppose that being confined to your room for weeks at a time, you are getting value for money from it. 

The real problem, and this is true of remote working too, that we are introducing a whole new section of society into the working environment, on the basis that the 'new normal' is doing everything by electronic communication. Humans thrive on social contact, and the office environment (and in the case of students) the study environment are great for this. Remote working inhibits that. It's great for me, mid 50s in my house with a garden in leafy land, but slightly less attractive for 20 somethings in a shared flat in the metropolis, balancing your laptop on your knees, or students forced to do everything by video/email.  

Jeremy535897

ladyholly said:

The government does not have any money. They act as intermediaries in deciding where our money is spent. Every time someone says the government they mean the tax paying public which means all of us including the child spending their pocket money. 

The government has as much money as it wants, because it controls the issue of sterling, which is a sovereign currency. It does not rely on taxation already collected to fund spending. If it did, it could not have afforded all the cost of the coronavirus support schemes. The reason it can't simply print money is inflation, and that is unlikely to be a problem with rising unemployment.

gettingtheresometime

Aranyani said:

gettingtheresometime said:

ToxicWomble said:

Jeremy535897 said:

ToxicWomble said:

The problem as I understand it is that if the unis hadn’t opened up for new starters this year and hasn’t been In receipt of the fees then a large proportion of them would have gone bust

I think a lot of students will rightly question why they have to be the ones to do the supporting, particularly as it seems to put them at greater risk of coronavirus for very little benefit, if their courses are mostly online and they can't go anywhere.

I kind of agree - my spouse works at a uni.

However, the students were all complaining that they were being robbed of their life experience of uni and wanted a refund if the courses were only online.
From what I gather the content is just as good and if anything is more time consuming and expensive to prepare and deliver (possibly prep costs would be lower in subsequent years)
Some course as well are totally unsuitable for online delivery
Another incidence of damned if we do, damned if we don’t 

You do have to wonder what they were expecting, given the world that they had lived in for the past 6 months.
The 'uni experience' was one reason being given for many to defer their places until next year which, imo, could have resolved the issue of the exam results farce in one easy decision.

And how would the universities have survived that year?

I was making a comment about the student's complaints about it not being the real deal. 

As for the unis, I think I would withdrawn any offer which the student then subsequently deferred & then told them that they had to reapply for next years admission. That way at least the current yr 13 students would have a level playing field. 

Aranyani

ladyholly said:

The government does not have any money. They act as intermediaries in deciding where our money is spent. Every time someone says the government they mean the tax paying public which means all of us including the child spending their pocket money. 

Yeah that’s why we have taxes, collective responsibility.  

Unfortunately the governments that ‘we’ vote for to spend our money wisely rarely do.