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Post by justin124 on May 18, 2018 12:49:30 GMT
Well, having once been the largest UK town without a station, Mansfield may well now be one of the largest UK towns without a university, so why not. This leads to an interesting question - which town/city in the UK is the largest without a university? Swindon and Southend are good contenders, but both have campuses (AFAIK rather small ones) for Oxford Brookes and Essex respectively. Bournemouth is a potential winner on technicality - both Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth are in the Borough of Poole (as Poole Station's signs quite proudly state!). However, the fact that part of the joint campus complex border is also part of the Bournemouth-Poole border makes this even more tenuous. Bournemouth is not really a 'proper' university though - more the mickey mouse type from when Polytechnics & Technology Colleges were converted in late 1980s /early 1990s. |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 13:04:44 GMT
This leads to an interesting question - which town/city in the UK is the largest without a university? Swindon and Southend are good contenders, but both have campuses (AFAIK rather small ones) for Oxford Brookes and Essex respectively. Bournemouth is a potential winner on technicality - both Bournemouth University and Arts University Bournemouth are in the Borough of Poole (as Poole Station's signs quite proudly state!). However, the fact that part of the joint campus complex border is also part of the Bournemouth-Poole border makes this even more tenuous. Bournemouth is not really a 'proper' university though - more the mickey mouse type from when Polytechnics & Technology Colleges were converted in late 1980s /early 1990s. Unlike before the changes, almost everyone who goes to study at BU enrols on to some program where the final intended outcome is a degree. Far from a prestigious university, and not high ranking, but it's a university nonetheless. |
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Post by justin124 on May 18, 2018 13:21:53 GMT
Bournemouth is not really a 'proper' university though - more the mickey mouse type from when Polytechnics & Technology Colleges were converted in late 1980s /early 1990s. Unlike before the changes, almost everyone who goes to study at BU enrols on to some program where the final intended outcome is a degree. Far from a prestigious university, and not high ranking, but it's a university nonetheless. But on the whole probably 'mickey mouse' degrees. They tend to be the courses which result in unnecessary waste of money by students. Debts incurred for little useful purpose. True of so many other places such as Derby - Lincoln - Anglia Ruskin etc. Degrees in Tourism - Film Studies - Printing et al. I basically think of them as non-academic universities! |
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timmullen1
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Post by timmullen1 on May 18, 2018 13:56:36 GMT
Unlike before the changes, almost everyone who goes to study at BU enrols on to some program where the final intended outcome is a degree. Far from a prestigious university, and not high ranking, but it's a university nonetheless. But on the whole probably 'mickey mouse' degrees. They tend to be the courses which result in unnecessary waste of money by students. Debts incurred for little useful purpose. True of so many other places such as Derby - Lincoln - Anglia Ruskin etc. Degrees in Tourism - Film Studies - Printing et al. I basically think of them as non-academic universities! Depends on your definition, but Bournemouth Uni film school alumni were involved in every Oscar nominated animated film this year, and the Business School degrees are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) who only accredit 5% of business degrees globally. |
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Post by justin124 on May 18, 2018 14:06:01 GMT
But on the whole probably 'mickey mouse' degrees. They tend to be the courses which result in unnecessary waste of money by students. Debts incurred for little useful purpose. True of so many other places such as Derby - Lincoln - Anglia Ruskin etc. Degrees in Tourism - Film Studies - Printing et al. I basically think of them as non-academic universities! Depends on your definition, but Bournemouth Uni film school alumni were involved in every Oscar nominated animated film this year, and the Business School degrees are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) who only accredit 5% of business degrees globally. The students attending such institutions, however, tend to be less academic overall. Relatively few would have achieved the A level grades required for university entry back in the 1960s & 1970s - when it was far more difficult anyway to obtain a given grade at A level - eg 30% of students failed to pass the examinations to achieve the E grade. |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 14:14:19 GMT
Depends on your definition, but Bournemouth Uni film school alumni were involved in every Oscar nominated animated film this year, and the Business School degrees are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) who only accredit 5% of business degrees globally. The students attending such institutions, however, tend to be less academic overall. Relatively few would have achieved the A level grades required for university entry back in the 1960s & 1970s - when it was far more difficult anyway to obtain a given grade at A level - eg 30% of students failed to pass the examinations to achieve the E grade. It might have changed with the very recent number (rather than letters, A*,A,B...) changes, but last time I checked, A-level scores were standardized so that by design, 30% or 40% don't achieve an E in each exam. I don't think there's any truth in the idea that more people are getting the higher grades nowadays. It might be possible (although many experts seem to disagree) that the general standards are still lower (i.e. it's easier to get an A even if no more people are achieving it). Certainly, UK students are typically less academic than their continentally-raised peers in UK universities. |
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Post by justin124 on May 18, 2018 14:33:57 GMT
The students attending such institutions, however, tend to be less academic overall. Relatively few would have achieved the A level grades required for university entry back in the 1960s & 1970s - when it was far more difficult anyway to obtain a given grade at A level - eg 30% of students failed to pass the examinations to achieve the E grade. It might have changed with the very recent number (rather than letters, A*,A,B...) changes, but last time I checked, A-level scores were standardized so that by design, 30% or 40% don't achieve an E in each exam. I don't think there's any truth in the idea that more people are getting the higher grades nowadays. It might be possible (although many experts seem to disagree) that the general standards are still lower (i.e. it's easier to get an A even if no more people are achieving it). Certainly, UK students are typically less academic than their continentally-raised peers in UK universities. Nowadays more than 95% of A level students achieve at least a Grade E - the figure was just 70% under the Relative Marking system used until the late 1980s when replaced by Absolute Marking. Likewise under the earlier system A grades were restricted to the top 10% in a given academic year , whereas nowadays circa 25% are awarded A or A* grades.. Jeremy Corbyn has been mocked for his two grade E A levels from the late 1960s, but - as I have tried to point out to those who engage in that - he could be confident of achieving at least grade C passes on the basis of present day criteria. Alas grade inflation has been rampant across our education system over the last 40 years - GCSE grades in relation to the O levels they superseded - A levels as mentioned above - and,of course, degree classifications! When university entry was much more restricted , most students graduated with a 2.2 - yet for circa 30 years a 2.1 has been the norm. The academics themselves know it to be a nonsense but have had little choice but to respond to the pressures placed on them to award more Ist and 2.1 degrees. |
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spqr
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Post by spqr on May 18, 2018 14:36:08 GMT
Nah... Anglia Ruskin is a university, whether we like it or not (it even says so on the platform boards at the station). |
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Post by greenhert on May 18, 2018 16:22:55 GMT
Milton Keynes, practically speaking. The Open University's headquarters are located there but the Open University is almost entirely distance learning.
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Chris from Brum
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Post by Chris from Brum on May 18, 2018 16:34:15 GMT
Milton Keynes, practically speaking. The Open University's headquarters are located there but the Open University is almost entirely distance learning. SWMBO did an OU Masters fairly recently. She visited the HQ a couple of times, and described it as like a ghost university, with most of the usual facilities there but hardly anyone about using them. |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 16:41:11 GMT
Milton Keynes, practically speaking. The Open University's headquarters are located there but the Open University is almost entirely distance learning. Beds “uni” has a campus there? I think I’m going to win with Barnet! |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on May 18, 2018 16:44:01 GMT
Milton Keynes, practically speaking. The Open University's headquarters are located there but the Open University is almost entirely distance learning. Beds “uni” has a campus there? I think I’m going to win with Barnet! If you mean Barnet, London Borough of then it has Middlesex University. (If you just mean Barnet that town, then it isn't all that large) |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on May 18, 2018 16:45:06 GMT
You could probably have Croydon though..
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 16:59:29 GMT
You could probably have Croydon though.. Drat! Croydon has got “university centre Croydon” which I was reluctantly classing as a university. Ealing has university of west London. Bromley? |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on May 18, 2018 17:17:06 GMT
Looks like its basically an FE college which does a few degrees validated by Sussex uni. I wouldn't count that as a University
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2018 17:19:00 GMT
Looks like its basically an FE college which does a few degrees validated by Sussex uni. I wouldn't count that as a University Croydon it is then ! |
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Post by lancastrian on May 18, 2018 19:09:55 GMT
Discounting parts of London, I nominate Blackpool. The college does some degree courses, but where doesn't these days.
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J.G.Harston
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Post by J.G.Harston on May 18, 2018 19:50:36 GMT
It might have changed with the very recent number (rather than letters, A*,A,B...) changes, but last time I checked, A-level scores were standardized so that by design, 30% or 40% don't achieve an E in each exam. I don't think there's any truth in the idea that more people are getting the higher grades nowadays. Nowadays more than 95% of A level students achieve at least a Grade E - the figure was just 70% under the Relative Marking system used until the late 1980s when replaced by Absolute Marking. ... This is the wrong thread, but what the hell... If you have cohorts of 'A' level students and 15% average As, 15% average Bs, 15% average C, etc. (made up numbers) and 15% of post-A-level students go to university, those university students are going to be overwhelmingly people with As. If 50% of post-A-level students go to university raw immovable mathematics results in at least (50-15)% being people with A-level grades lower than A. |
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Post by justin124 on May 18, 2018 20:26:20 GMT
Nowadays more than 95% of A level students achieve at least a Grade E - the figure was just 70% under the Relative Marking system used until the late 1980s when replaced by Absolute Marking. ... This is the wrong thread, but what the hell... If you have cohorts of 'A' level students and 15% average As, 15% average Bs, 15% average C, etc. (made up numbers) and 15% of post-A-level students go to university, those university students are going to be overwhelmingly people with As. If 50% of post-A-level students go to university raw immovable mathematics results in at least (50-15)% being people with A-level grades lower than A. In the absence of grade inflation at both A and Degree levels the effect of that should have been to lower the level of average Degree classifications compared with 40 to 50 years ago. In reality, the opposite has happened which makes me suspect that some people awarded Third class degrees in the 1960s would now scrape a 2.1. Even at Oxbridge there have been clear signs of grade inflation - people such as David Dimbleby , Jeremy Thorpe and Edward Boyle were awarded Third class degrees in the 1950s - the same happened to Barbara Castle back in the 1930s. Nowadays Oxbridge Thirds are very rare! |
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spqr
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Post by spqr on May 18, 2018 20:37:45 GMT
This is the wrong thread, but what the hell... If you have cohorts of 'A' level students and 15% average As, 15% average Bs, 15% average C, etc. (made up numbers) and 15% of post-A-level students go to university, those university students are going to be overwhelmingly people with As. If 50% of post-A-level students go to university raw immovable mathematics results in at least (50-15)% being people with A-level grades lower than A. In the absence of grade inflation at both A and Degree levels the effect of that should have been to lower the level of average Degree classifications compared with 40 to 50 years ago. In reality, the opposite has happened which makes me suspect that some people awarded Third class degrees in the 1960s would now scrape a 2.1. Even at Oxbridge there have been clear signs of grade inflation - people such as David Dimbleby , Jeremy Thorpe and Edward Boyle were awarded Third class degrees in the 1950s - the same happened to Barbara Castle back in the 1930s. Nowadays Oxbridge Thirds are very rare! Although, in those days, a third-class degree at Oxford was equivalent to a lower second elsewhere. The chumps were given fourth-class degrees instead. |
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