A few months ago one of the leaders of one of the political parties went on record as saying that should his party achieve power, then they would not increase university tuition fees. Yesterday the coalition government announced that those same tuition fees are set to increase by up to 300%. One can possibly make a case for not ranting too much about the Con-servatives for this – after all they made no commitment about these fees, and (to be fair to Con-servatives) this is really the sort of thing that they feel that shouldn’t be subsidised by the public purse.
But shall we take as read the rant about the lies of the Dribbling Democraps?
Although there are moves afoot to shorten the length of time students are spending doing degrees, the actual cost involved must mean that a degree level education is once again only available to the rich. (A traditional three-year degree will cost slkightly more than my first house did.)
Let me rephrase that. A traditional university education is once again only available to the rich. There are other ways of getting one. I paid for my own whilst both my children were toddlers and ‘er indoors TM wasn’t working (but was being a full time mother). And there are degrees which can be done as part of your employment. For no apparent reason, one such degree springs to mind.
Personally I’ve never been a fan of the traditional style of university education. As a schoolboy at the Hastings Academy for Budding Geniuses , it was made crystal clear to me that the only reason for my being at a grammar school was to go on to a university, and I think that is what put me off of the idea. Why on earth go to a university for three (or more) years only to run up debts whilst putting off getting employment? Surely it’s better to do some work, find out what you want to do for a living, then see about securing any relevant qualifications? Perhaps that is why apprenticeships are on the increase again….
Last week at work we had a rant about how rubbish Kent
It would seem I’m not alone in finding the place wonderful - the county is listed in the world’s top twelve holiday destinations. I was impressed – mind you, I’ve holidayed there several times myself.
Another reason why my home county is so brilliant is that it hosts (at least) two of the best breweries in creation. One of them is currently brewing thirty two firkins of black nectar which should be in the pubs in a month’s time. Mind you with only (slightly more than) two thousand pints of the porter being brewed this year, I imagine it will sell out quickly. The brewery has promised to email me a list of pubs who are selling the stuff when the time comes. I predict an outing to a pub in early December…
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