University

Will the credit crunch and general recession mean less people wanting to get into debt by going to Uni with less jobs available for those who graduate?

Mates of mine with pretty decent degrees and a hefty debt now find themselves temping and or settling for a job they could have done straight out of college.

I would guess so. Uni is a white elephant in many cases though as it is regarded as an 'experience' rather then a requirement to persue a career, as such it is pointless going to uni in about 60% of all students.

The unwillingness to accept jobs such as electricians, plumbers and carpenters in the younger generations as legitimate and worthwhile are the reasons the country is a bit screwed. More emphasis needs to be put on getting a trade rather then getting ****ed and pursuing the arty girls from J-block.

A mate of mine took a media degree and promptly retrained to become a sparky on graduation, he now runs his own business and earns 35k + a year. His coursemates are generally flipping burgers.

I would guess so. Uni is a white elephant in many cases though as it is regarded as an 'experience' rather then a requirement to persue a career, as such it is pointless going to uni in about 60% of all students.

 

The unwillingness to accept jobs such as electricians, plumbers and carpenters in the younger generations as legitimate and worthwhile are the reasons the country is a bit screwed. More emphasis needs to be put on getting a trade rather then getting ****ed and pursuing the arty girls from J-block.

 

A mate of mine took a media degree and promptly retrained to become a sparky on graduation, he now runs his own business and earns 35k + a year. His coursemates are generally flipping burgers.

Best of both worlds then...

i dont really have any quals but earn more than alot of graduates of my age....

sod Uni..

Yes, what you are saying is totally spot on, saint stevo.

Some graduates cannot even find supermarket work at the moment. There was a good feature on exactly this topic in the Guardian last Saturday.

This should answer your question:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/jan/10/graduate-employment-crisis-rescue-package

I work at a University and know for fact that about half of the students are only there to please their parents or because they didn't know what else to do. And so they drift through their first couple of years, wracking up thousands of pounds of debt only to drop out at the start of their third year.

I asked one of these students why they came to Uni when clearly they couldn't give a monkies about getting a degree and they said 'when we we're doing out A levels one week we were all told to fill out our UCAS forms', on mass, no thought given to whether they actually wanted to go

Uni is a waste of time, An ex of mine came out of a 3 year course and went back to work at a garden centre on £5 something an hour. I didn't go to college or Uni and got a decent job earning good money from working my way up. Employers will choose experience over qualifications anyway.

Lets all base the UK education system on you and a mates recent experiences shall we? In some ways you are right but there are also very good degrees which lead to well paid jobs.

S13 has a point to a certain extent. University can be VERY pointless if you do a mickey mouse degree, but there are also alot of decent degrees that WILL land you in decent jobs afterwards (As has happened to people in our family, Shane)

It has only happened on the gooney side of the family not the cool side.

Teh sister??

why are you talking to yourself

Since a young age, I've always wanted to go into my current profession.

I went to university and, in all fairness, did a media degree and made the most of my time there.

HOWEVER, I countered the fun times with a lot of work experience and worked hard for the best grade I could have. I know a lot of students don't do this and just see university as "an experience".

Sadly, these are the ones who are now working at garden centres.

While I am really enjoying working in my current profession (I actually love it more than I should), my job, like thousands of others, is not as safe as it was this time last year and it does worry me.

I think it is a tad unfair to tarnish people that go to university to work with the same brush as the ones who walk around Winchester with I heart Winch t-shirts.

University from the academic point was great, but frankly, from a getting on perspective, I found the whole experience complete rubbish. I went into a 4 year Environmental Science degree knowing it would be easily sufficient for the job I wanted, and when I came out employers wanted a masters. Sod that. I worked myself to a standstill the first time around, and I don't have a massive work ethic either. I ended up with a reasonable job, and then eventually went back to IT.

University was a piece of ****. I would'nt have been able to do it without working four days a week though.

I have the choice of going to Uni, looks like Leeds or Loughbrough to study sport management.

Or I have the chance to work with Port Vale, Bournemouth and Bristol City, due to my boos at work being a NVQ asseser and having "contacts".

Me thinks I will go for the experiance over the debt and drunken nights

mate I did sports management at Brighton. Only do it it you really want to go into that industry. I found out I didnt after I about 18 months in due to the p1ss poor money!

Got a 2:1 mind but am now in cival servant in central government. I could be earning another 5k a year now if I hadnt gone to Uni. so you need to think about it. Personally I would avoid uii like the anything. Get some training and get on the employment ladder ASAP. Degrees mean **** all now.

so really was a waste of time career wise. Having said that it is useful if you want to get p1ssed, get laid and stay in bed.

I personally feel that by the time you've been to uni for 3 years, you could have had a poorly paid job (or well paid!) instead and gained experience which employers would consider more important than a qualification in most cases. It depends how motivated you are I guess. I didn't even bother with college and feel fairly comfortable in achieving what I want to do in life.

mate I did sports management at Brighton. Only do it it you really want to go into that industry. I found out I didnt after I about 18 months in due to the p1ss poor money!

 

Got a 2:1 mind but am now in cival servant in central government. I could be earning another 5k a year now if I hadnt gone to Uni. so you need to think about it. Personally I would avoid uii like the anything. Get some training and get on the employment ladder ASAP. Degrees mean **** all now.

 

so really was a waste of time career wise. Having said that it is useful if you want to get p1ssed, get laid and stay in bed.

Cheers buddy

I personally feel that by the time you've been to uni for 3 years, you could have had a poorly paid job (or well paid!) instead and gained experience which employers would consider more important than a qualification in most cases. It depends how motivated you are I guess. I didn't even bother with college and feel fairly comfortable in achieving what I want to do in life.

Retired TSF mod?

Retired TSF mod?

The pension is excellent.

I went to Uni, not really done my any good. But I only went so i didn't have to get a job. But in any case, it has not got me a 'top job' but it does look good on a CV. Like someone said earlier, experience is probably more benficial then experience. I got made redundant in August (cos of the good old credit crunch) and despite having a degree I have only recently got a new one. I managed to get 4 interviews in 4 months! I applied for about 40+ jobs. But you have to take the credit crunch into consideration for this though. But again, it was probably my experience in this climate that did me no good.

I went to Uni, not really done my any good. But I only went so i didn't have to get a job. But in any case, it has not got me a 'top job' but it does look good on a CV. Like someone said earlier, experience is probably more benficial then experience. I got made redundant in August (cos of the good old credit crunch) and despite having a degree I have only recently got a new one. I managed to get 4 interviews in 4 months! I applied for about 40+ jobs. But you have to take the credit crunch into consideration for this though. But again, it was probably my experience in this climate that did me no good.

:confused:

Lets all base the UK education system on you and a mates recent experiences shall we? In some ways you are right but there are also very good degrees which lead to well paid jobs.

Amen to that, so many people (on here at least, which prolly isn't that good an indication of the real world) seem to dismiss further education on the grounds that they didn't go and they have a job they like or their friend did go and ended up regretting it or not getting the job they wanted.

I graduated last year with a ****ty media degree and I still don't have the job I wanted but I'll never ever regret going to university because it was something I wanted to do, and not wholly for the social aspects either.

:confused:

I meant experience is more benficial then qualifications.

If I hadn't gone to Uni I wouldn't have met my wife; 28th anniversary just under the belt, it was definitely a good idea :):)

I'm at Uni part time which work kindly pay for. I get a decent qualification rather than taking a pay cut.

Lets all base the UK education system on you and a mates recent experiences shall we? In some ways you are right but there are also very good degrees which lead to well paid jobs.

Precisely. It's easy to cherry-pick examples to try and disprove university is worthwhile, but for every one quoted, I'm pretty certain can name ten non-graduates that are earning below the national average salary.

Depends what you want to do really. Trying to get into certain sectors without a degree would be nigh-on impossible nowadays, it really does depend upon the motive of the individual when going to Uni.

I like to see it that you're only young once, Uni was the best decision I ever made, can't put a price on fun :-)

well maybe 18k haha

I can't really decide, i'm currently at college (my first year) and i guess soon enough i'll have to start thinking about whether to go to uni or not. I work part-time in a supermarket (yeah, i know) and am taking law, IT and early history into my second year, but with no clue as to what kind of job i want in the future. My brother took a gap year and worked at IBM on a gap year program, which gained him 10k and what is probably quite valuable work experience for future employers. Now i'm strongly thinking about a gap year but wouldn't know where to work (somewhere other than the supermarket!), which would then give me more time to think about uni etc. I suppose with the current 'economic downturn' and rising unemployment rates going to uni may be a good idea in that it gives time for the situation to improve and, although slated here, extra qualifications.

Hmm....

For me school is so pressured these days that when i left i wanted uni in order to chill out and study what i wanted, Newcastle is providing that for me along with an ace night life. Its all good.

It is a sad reflection on society that ost of you seem to believe that going to University is about getting qualifications to get a job that pays loads of money. That's certainly not why I went to University. I went because I wanted to have a laugh for a few years and, more importantly, I see value in learning. There is no other motive than that......learning is something that I think is important and enjoyable. Money does not interest me as whatever I do with my talents I will have enough to get by. I chose a subject to study that I love and find endlessly fascinating. I learnt more about that subject and did a subsidary subject that I had never encountered before. I really enjoyed learning about that as well. I wish I had more time to learn new things....not so I could use these skills or qualifications to get a better job or earn more money, but because learning and furthering yourself, mentally, is a valuable thing to do.

I see the point that taking a degree that's got nothing to do with what you want to do can be rather unhelpful. However, people seem to be slating it totally. I think university is fantastic. I'm here now and it's been one of the best things i've ever done. The changes i've made to my future already have been fantastic. If I had not gone to uni I would be working in childcare somewhere, which I don't think I would enjoy long term and wouldn't be me reaching anywhere near my potential. I'm doing an accounting degree, which is what I want to do in the future, and the degree will mean I don't have to do as many of the CIMA exams later on. I think there's a lot of point to my degree and I wouldn't change my decision to come here if I could.

Plus... I wouldn't have my season ticket to saints if I hadn't have bothered to go to uni as I would still be living in the little town where I came from and wouldn't have met the person who 'introduced me'.

i'm in my first year at uni.

1. Extends education

2. Lifetime experience, its brillant, cheap drinking, meeting hundreds of people and playing football and cricket.

3. Anyone over the age of 40 always seems to wish they had gone to uni.

You only livr once, not bothered by debt, worth it for the experience, got the rest of my life to work, and taking a gap year after

I'm finding now that if I want to advance at all in my chosen career, I tend to get overlooked because I don't currently have a degree, even though I have nearly 15 years experience in the field. To rectify this I have spent the past three years, and will spend at least the next 12 months burning the candle at both ends doing a law degree and working full time.

I just wish I did Uni properly first time round.

I'm a first year student at a London Drama School which is attached to the University of London.

I think it's fair to say that in industry such as the arts and media, the experience of working in context on placements etc is just as important, if not more, than the grades gained and academia studied.

It's my opinion that this is becoming more apparent in the syllabuses of Unis nowadays, my course for example sends our group of 20 out on regular work placements in all kinds of contexts. Already this term I've worked in two secondary schools in Wimbledon, four theatre companies and I've got one at the Beeb coming up next term.

Work experience is the new degree, but the experience of Uni is unrivalled I think. The social life, the discounts and the people you meet are invaluable. I blagged myself two tickets to the premiere of Revolutionary Road on Sunday, met the stars, tread the red carpet etc, and that wouldn't have happened had I not been a student.

Good times! (Apart from the fact you're perpetually skint.)

i'm in my first year at uni.

 

1. Extends education

2. Lifetime experience, its brillant, cheap drinking, meeting hundreds of people and playing football and cricket.

3. Anyone over the age of 40 always seems to wish they had gone to uni.

 

You only livr once, not bothered by debt, worth it for the experience, got the rest of my life to work, and taking a gap year after

Be very careful saying that. You will when you are paying off £100 plus a month for about 10 years.

sorry to hijack the thread, but can't start my own and need a bit of help with my media, If anyone could answer this or start a thread for me would appreciate it.

Thanks

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4+

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if i was leaving school now i'd head for uni. ride out the recession, leave in 3 or 4 years into a hopefully more bouyant economy

Be very careful saying that. You will when you are paying off £100 plus a month for about 10 years.

Yes and I'm still paying mine off! However, whoever said that you hit a degree barrier in certain professions if you don't have one or equivalent professional accreditation is spot on. Not everyone is a natural Sir Alan Sugar or Peter Jones and can/will/wants to sell widgets which you don't need a degree for and is a perfectly sensible way to make a living.

Also, Universities bring a serious amount of money into their local economies. Southampton's economy is quite depressed judging by the number of boarded up units and businesses that seem to have gone kaput recently in the City Centre and IKEA won't be a panacea although it's welcome news. If you don't work in retail, financial services (and most of that is in Basingstoke now) or the public sector, Soton's economy offers skilled people very little sadly. That's why most of the locations of posters on this site are outside of Soton. So the Universities are a key source of investment, R&D, student spending and crucially, employment for the city, particularly Soton Uni with it's worldwide reputation. Lives are saved by the medical research link with the General and this includes one of my family, hence why I feel strongly about this.

Also, there will be less 18-21 year olds going to University in the future and a lot more employers upskilling their staff and their ability to compete/survive in their given market. Southampton is fortunate to have 2 Universities to be able to drive this forward.

I graduated from uni in 2007 after doing a 4 year masters course. I agree it is equally about gaining life experience away from home as well as learning your chosen course.

I like to think I chose a sensible degree at a good uni that had good job prospects. I'm on a decent wage and my job is secure at the moment. Many of my mates who went to uni (mostly to Solent, which was too close to home for my liking) did obscure courses and now find themselves in fairly boring, not particularly well paid jobs. I would suggest choosing a broad subject that covers several occupations that you might be interested in, then specialise within that subject in the later uni years. Doing a specific course, for example, 'Disaster Management' or 'football studies' kinda limits your options.

And yes, I am now one of those people that says 'bloody students' whenever I see sick on the street or when there are too many of them about, crossing roads without giving a toss...

... I certainly miss the perks. Council tax is pretty rubbish.

I would guess so. Uni is a white elephant in many cases though as it is regarded as an 'experience' rather then a requirement to persue a career, as such it is pointless going to uni in about 60% of all students.

 

The unwillingness to accept jobs such as electricians, plumbers and carpenters in the younger generations as legitimate and worthwhile are the reasons the country is a bit screwed. More emphasis needs to be put on getting a trade rather then getting ****ed and pursuing the arty girls from J-block.

 

A mate of mine took a media degree and promptly retrained to become a sparky on graduation, he now runs his own business and earns 35k + a year. His coursemates are generally flipping burgers.

Thats why the government have brought in these new HE Diplomas...but again, they carry the social stigma as not being as 'worthy' as degrees.

If I knew then what I know now, I would definitely have gone to Uni.

No point doing any of this media studies and similar rubbish though.

It is a sad reflection on society that ost of you seem to believe that going to University is about getting qualifications to get a job that pays loads of money. That's certainly not why I went to University. I went because I wanted to have a laugh for a few years and, more importantly, I see value in learning. There is no other motive than that......learning is something that I think is important and enjoyable. Money does not interest me as whatever I do with my talents I will have enough to get by. I chose a subject to study that I love and find endlessly fascinating. I learnt more about that subject and did a subsidary subject that I had never encountered before. I really enjoyed learning about that as well. I wish I had more time to learn new things....not so I could use these skills or qualifications to get a better job or earn more money, but because learning and furthering yourself, mentally, is a valuable thing to do.

I generally agree with this. I did a degree in IT though which I found endlessly dull. It was a purely vocational decision to enable me to compete in the job market which it did. However, after leaving uni and getting a job I decided to do some Open University courses in subjects I was genuinely interested in. The difference was amazing and it was a great experience. I've often said if I won the lottery then I would go back to fulltime education.

I will point out that University doesn't suit a lot of people though and it's unrealistic to think that it's beneficial to everyone. Depends on the individual really.

The other thing I'd say is that whilst a lot of jobs shouldn't really be demanding people have a degree to get on a shortlist unfortunately it does happen. HR departments will sift out many job applications purely on the basis that a person doesn't have a degree regardless of experience. It's not right but it happens.

I also think that proper "trades" have suffered due to lack of decent apprenticeships around. When we had a lot of nationalised industries then there were many apprenticeships available - smaller private companies don't always have the resources available to offer these opportunities.

I don't understand how strongly some feel against university. Fair enough if you went and hated it, but it's so often people that didn't go that hate it. Why? Why hate something you didn't experience? If you don't regret your choices and have done well without it, then why get annoyed about it? Good for you if you have done well, with or without it.

 

But for me, not only is it the most fun 3 years of life so far, it's the chance to study anything you want full time without having to worry about earning money. It's not a situation you'll likely get again and one that should be appreciated if you're going to go. I couldn't put a price on the experience I had. I made many friends there that I still have now, learnt a lot, grew up a lot, played a lot of football, got involved with a fair few other societies, went out more than ever before, met more girls than ever before and experienced a new city. Did a masters too, loved it, learnt a lot, but I don't earn that much. Never been that obsessed with money, probably should have studied another subject. But I have friends from the same uni who are successful in medicine, law, finance, accounting, sales, architecture and so on, all earning silly amounts of money they wouldn't have done without university. Or maybe they would, who knows, but I doubt they regret their decision.

 

I just wish I could afford to go back sometime and study something else full time, not necessarily for any career development, just to study. I'd probably just carry on, do a PhD then teach if I had it my way.

Same here. I have many friends that also went into trades in their late teens and did really well post-apprenticeships/training periods as one-man-bands but you don't earn a lot under the age of 21 unless you go it alone with an amazing idea and the ability to sell like a genius and such people are rare. The commercial employment market is a tough place for an 18 year old and even at the age of 21/22, you are better placed and more mature to enter it, notwithstanding your qualifications and what you can offer. Paid work in your holidays which I took helps you to understand work politics and how organisations work.

Degrees tend to make more impact on earnings in your late 20s, 30s and 40s as the experience and niche knowledge and contacts grow with your career.

Here I am. :-)

Uni is completely pointless and a MASSIVE drain on tax-payers money. I have previously researched that on an average wage, a tax payer will pay £400 a year towards people on University courses.

Anyone who thinks that the 'fees' students pay cover anywhere near what their course costs are seriously deluded.

I am all for people going to Uni and studying a course which they NEED to do their chosen career. For example, Nurses, Doctors, Law etc

It is the spongers and wasters studying pointless courses just so the tax payer can pay for them to drink snakebits and act like c*nts that I hate.

In 90% of industries, an apprenticeship, taking a junior role, or simply moving up the ladder is a much more effective way of earning decent money.

If my children want to be Doctors etc then I will support them going to Uni, if they want me to pay for them to go on a jolly studying Media Studies, Tourism, David Beckham Studies or something equally pointless, then they will be dissapointed.

They will be given the option... join the Army or get a job/apprenticeship.

Harsh but fair.

Just for the record - I f*cking hate tax-robbing students.

I miss the old general rants about all students from SRS. Things have changed.

But how can an individual undertake a useful MBA in tourism for his employer, for example, without having some general undergraduate degree beforehand?

agree stu..

a career in the forces generally pays well enough these days...

agree stu..

 

a career in the forces generally pays well enough these days...

But TDD, it may well pay enough but only if there are higher qualified people such as mechanical & electrical engineers to help design the ships/subs - and also guys who have learned leadership and business skills at good enough level to make it work overall.

It can't all be super efficient naval and artillery ratings for the forces to work, let alone else where!

Just for the record on my earlier comments. I studied Engineering at Uni, and the grounding it gave me in the subject was priceless. It got me the job i'm in now and I would be nowhere without it. But 80% of degrees are pointless and could be replaced by vocational work.

Universities are such major parts of place's economies now that the reforms required to make this happen would be horribly damaging in the short term. No medium sized city needs 2 universities yet it is more then common place. They all provide employment and services but to what end? It is a substitution for the lack of real industry that is left, jobs provided elsewhere to keep the economy moving.

A prime example of Tax payer's money subsidising shortfalls in other areas of the economy.