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In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

theguardian.com

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Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#21

Post by unfunco »

Hasknewbie wrote: post #10

I agree with the article but I can only note, once more, that it is from The Guardian, who did run multiple articles in support of no-platforming in universities. But look who comes crying about freedom of inquiry now, once said "erosion of integrity" is done by right-wing bureaucrats. But the no-platforming happens mostly in the US, while government interferences is happening in the UK, so they will probably get awa…

Whenever the theme turns a little bit orange on the Guardian, you're reading an opinion, there are lots of opinion columnists at the Guardian and many of them have differing views. If you want a more consistent view from the Guardian, then stay in the news sections (the theme is red for that), this case, the opinion is by a professor at the University of Cambridge, it's not an unbiased report from a journalist.

Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#22

Post by tonyedgecombe »

glogla wrote: post #13
joshsyn wrote: post #11

I have lost confidence in the western university system. Too much high exorbitant fees, with no future prospects but debt, so I have taken it myself to learn online via open courses.

Not all of West has it this way. US and UK yes, but rest of EU mostly has free college in same or higher quality.

Scotland is nowhere near as bad as the rest of the UK although you have to have put up with their dreary weather for three years before attending.

Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#23

Post by sgt101 »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #14
Angostura wrote: post #7

There's also the issue of what has happened now that students have to pay through the nose for courses. They are now customers who expect high grades for their fees. This has certainly changed the dynamic with regard to rigorous marking in some areas

I can't help feeling we would be better off if responsibility for grading was taken away from universities as it is for A levels and GCSEs. There are some problems with that but I suspect they would be outweighed by the benefits.

Tough to do this within the constraints of academic freedom; if an institution wants to offer a new course and they need to get certification by an authority and find externals to mark it... well could stall things by years?

Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#24

Post by pjc50 »

vixen99 wrote: post #2

And is the UK government behind the erosion of free speech identified at a large number of institutions who have banned and actively censored ideas on campus? Shall we assume they are helpless in the face of demands from Whitehall? http://www.spiked-online.com/free-speech-university-rankings

Spiked online is not a reputable news source, it's a professional troll organisation. They're currently libertarian but are the successor paper to "Living Marxism".

Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#25

Post by gambiting »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #14
Angostura wrote: post #7

There's also the issue of what has happened now that students have to pay through the nose for courses. They are now customers who expect high grades for their fees. This has certainly changed the dynamic with regard to rigorous marking in some areas

I can't help feeling we would be better off if responsibility for grading was taken away from universities as it is for A levels and GCSEs. There are some problems with that but I suspect they would be outweighed by the benefits.

The issue isn't and never was with grading. No one is giving higher grades than they should in those UK universities that I worked with - the issue is specifically with lecturers being instructed to write exams in such a way that most people pass, because doing otherwise is bad for the department and for publicity. Which results in exams which are stupidly easy for anything that doesn't have "engineering" in the name.

Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#26

Post by kome »

joshsyn wrote: post #11

I have lost confidence in the western university system. Too much high exorbitant fees, with no future prospects but debt, so I have taken it myself to learn online via open courses.

> I have lost confidence in the western university system. Too much high exorbitant fees, with no future prospects but debt

That's not the west, that's America. Europe is mostly safe, beside the UK, where they decided to go the American way...

I always got money by going at the university, never the contrary.

Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#27

Post by gutnor »

Angostura wrote: post #7

There's also the issue of what has happened now that students have to pay through the nose for courses. They are now customers who expect high grades for their fees. This has certainly changed the dynamic with regard to rigorous marking in some areas

Another point is that immigration of qualified worker is the one that is not only accepted, but seen as desirable.

Universities are selling something for 45,000 GBP that is available for free or much cheaper in other countries and readily accessible to employers. At some point Universities need to give students their money worth in some form or another.

Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#28

Post by bannedaccount »

vixen99 wrote: post #2

And is the UK government behind the erosion of free speech identified at a large number of institutions who have banned and actively censored ideas on campus? Shall we assume they are helpless in the face of demands from Whitehall? http://www.spiked-online.com/free-speech-university-rankings

[dead]

Re: In UK universities there is a daily erosion of integrity

#29

Post by pjc50 »

This should probably be seen in the context of the ongoing industrial action in response to a sneaky attempt to convert pensions from defined-benefit to defined-contribution, thereby halving their value. This was based on an extremely questionable financial scenario ("what if all UK universities went bankrupt?")
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