A Levels 2023

[ellal]

It is cheaper to fill universities than have the financial and political consequences of kids on the dole.

It is actually cheaper to provide tertiary education for free rather than require pointless qualifications for jobs that could be done without a degree...

But Universities are a business, and the bonus for government is to raise expectations needlessly in order to saddle the majority with a lifetime of debt before they even get started...

How come other countries can manage to get a highly educated population for free or almost free?

 

[JP_]

How come other countries can manage to get a highly educated population for free or almost free?

A fair tax system, and less corruption.

 

[gant]

It is actually cheaper to provide tertiary education for free rather than require pointless qualifications for jobs that could be done without a degree...

But Universities are a business, and the bonus for government is to raise expectations needlessly in order to saddle the majority with a lifetime of debt before they even get started...

How come other countries can manage to get a highly educated population for free or almost free?

True, they're still living off the old standards which were set but in a globalised world where dumbing down is a pre requisite then they will become meaningless.
How long will the dumb down public put up with the charade? Got em by knackers.

 

[JP_]

What's being dumbed down here? Education at university level is pushing forwards still.

 

[ellal]

How long will the dumb down public put up with the charade?

Governments hope it'll go on forever...

Because of the policy of keeping the majority 'dumbed down' appears to work!

 

[Murdochcat]

4 years ago our daughter went to Exeter to study Physics. She got 1 x A* and 3 A’s

To study physics at Exeter this year the entry grades are BCC

Odd requirements this year to say the least s as the degree is really tough

 

[ellal]

What's being dumbed down here? Education at university level is pushing forwards still.

You have to differentiate between purposeful education and unnecessary education...

The general public is being 'dumbed down' into accepting that a degree and a lifetime of debt is required for jobs that could be achieved by other means such as proper apprenticeships/on the job training.
(apologies, but on this I agree with mottie!)

 

[gant]

What's being dumbed down here? Education at university level is pushing forwards still.

In being the leaders in cancel culture?
It's not for nothing grammar schools got backheeled, can't let the plebs get above their station in life.

 

[ellal]

4 years ago our daughter went to Exeter to study Physics. She got 1 x A* and 3 A’s

To study physics at Exeter this year the entry grades are BCC

Odd requirements this year to say the least s as the degree is really tough

Not odd at all...

As I mentioned, Universities are a business...

So if the results have been downgraded then the requirements do the same...

Except of course for the 'elite of the elite' universities...

Hence the achievement gap between state and private!

 

[JohnD]

I have seen it reported that high-paying foreign students are taking up lots of the places at the best-regarded universities.

"A sharp rise in international students who pay higher tuition fees at top English universities is squeezing the number of places for UK students, according to data analysis by the Financial Times.

The crunch in places at the research-intensive Russell Group of universities — including Cambridge, Oxford, Bristol and the London School of Economics — shows the severity of the funding crisis in higher education.

Education experts warned of a looming political row as it became apparent that the big increase in the share of places offered to international students was starting to affect the chances of British children attending the highest-ranked universities."

FT.com

Britons squeezed out of top universities by lucrative overseas students

Intake of lower-paying domestic students drops at Russell Group as funding crisis bites

www.ft.com

 

[Dork Lard]

I have seen it reported that high-paying foreign students are taking up lots of the places at the best-regarded universities.

I was gobsmacked to discover that many (if not all) of the Chinese students studying at the University of Nottingham are paid an allowance by the Chinese gov't of £20-22kpa !

 

[JP_]

You have to differentiate between purposeful education and unnecessary education...

The general public is being 'dumbed down' into accepting that a degree and a lifetime of debt is required for jobs that could be achieved by other means such as proper apprenticeships/on the job training.
(apologies, but on this I agree with mottie!)

I don't think that is true. Most people going to uni do so because they enjoy education and the community that comes with it, not because they feel the must get a degree to get a job.

There are loads of opportunities and lots of guidance now for people to get into work after A level.

 

[Brigadier]

There's plenty of places that take lower grades. I did a course that, if I recall correctly, only required 2 Cs.

My response was to Dork's report of what the interviewer said - that ""if you can't hack your A levels then you're going to struggle with what we're going to throw at you".

Load of hyperbolic bowlogs, IMHO.

 

[ellal]

I don't think that is true. Most people going to uni do so because they enjoy education and the community that comes with it, not because they feel the must get a degree to get a job.

A small example

Not so long ago nurses didn't need a degree because they enjoyed that vocation in life...

Nowadays they have to have one and the bursary has been removed...

Has the standard of nursing gone up as a result, and do nurses enjoy having been saddled with a lifetime of debt?

And the old times of the 'community' of university has gone out of the window given the pressures/finances/restrictions of current day studying in the UK.

 

[charliegolf]

Some have calculated that if they had taken the exams last year, their grades would have been up one; ie B would become A.

Furthermore, students in Wales and Northern Ireland are being shown leniency in their grades.

I'm currently studying A Level for my own enjoyment, and I have done the comparison from last year to this (in Wales). My C scores this year would have been a comfortable B last year. My niece, who did 3, BCD, would have convincingly had ABC last year. Whatever they said, Wales is back to 2019.