British Universities, facing HUGE cuts, plan tuition increase

[bigbadwolf]

Finally, I agree that there simply aren't the jobs available for the number of graduates we're putting through the system. I've simply lost count of the number of my friends who can't get ANY job, never mind a graduate job, and I assume the numbers are stockpiling year-on-year.

A friend of mine posted this:

As youth unemployment hits a record 1m and school leavers and graduates are desperate to find work, UK employers are only too happy to help as long as they work FOR NOTHING. In recent months, some of corporate Britain's biggest names, including Tesco, Volkswagen, Morrison's and Harrods, have adopted David Cameron's Big Society approach to voluntary work and advertised unpaid internships.

Most involve clerical work dressed up as "exciting opportunities" for the inexperienced. Tasks include making the tea, filing, entering data, picking up the boss's lunch and, in some cases, scrubbing toilets and cleaning floors.

 

[Katrina]

I dont think this is limited to UK only. I dont think there are plently of graduate jobs even in USA/Canada , i can personally name several individuals with graduate science/Engineering/IT degrees working for major companies that do a lot of "secretarial/administrative" work for IT salaries.

 

[bigbadwolf]

I dont think this is limited to UK only. I dont think there are plently of graduate jobs even in USA/Canada , i can personally name several individuals with graduate science/Engineering/IT degrees working for major companies that do a lot of "secretarial/administrative" work for IT salaries.

So they are being paid? In London, even the police have been attempting to recruit unpaid volunteer policemen (I've seen it first-hand with a police booth manned by police officers handing out brochures outside the Tesco in Ealing Broadway).

 

[Katrina]

Thats kind of gross ! not being paid for work, I take that as a slap on an individual's face. So where do they get this kind of people from ? They have to be new, or very hungry.

I dont think people will put up a job not being for along time ! It has to be a CV builder or something better go revolt against the Government

 

[bigbadwolf]

Thats kind of gross ! not being paid for work, I take that as a slap on an individual's face. So where do they get this kind of people from ? They have to be new, or very hungry.

I dont think people will put up a job not being for along time ! It has to be a CV builder or something better go revolt against the Government

It's not unique to the UK; it happens in the US as well in areas like journalism, fashion, and publishing, where liberal arts graduates are trying to get their foot in the door into intensely competitive areas. The last year or two the parents of some of these graduates have even been paying for the privilege of an unpaid internship. It's a "CV builder" and shows "experience."

 

[Andy Nguyen]

1,000 engineering and physical sciences PhDs slashed

The decision by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council to slash the number of PhD students that it funds could damage the health of both disciplines and the economy, academics have warned.

The EPSRC announced in its delivery plan last December that it intended to scrap project studentships. A parliamentary question by Gareth Thomas, the shadow universities minister, has revealed that the number of PhD studentships awarded by the research council will fall by more than 1,000, to 1,900, in 2011-12.

A spokesman said the cut to project studentships would allow the EPSRC to protect the rest of its PhD funding streams, including its flagship Centres for Doctoral Training programme. Launched in 2009 in around 50 areas deemed to be strategic priorities, these centres educate students in four-year cohorts in "highly innovative, research-excellent environments where both depth and breadth are championed".

"Students trained in this way are much sought-after by business and academia," the spokesman added.

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=417022&c=1

 

[Mr Doe]

The thing is CDT program funds only UK/EU PhD students, meaning that the guys from China, India and Eastern Europe, the ones that actually go for these PhDs, don't get a penny.

 

[alain]

The thing is CDT program funds only UK/EU PhD students, meaning that the guys from China, India and Eastern Europe, the ones that actually go for these PhDs, don't get a penny.

are you implying that UK/EU students don't go for PhDs?

 

[Andy D.]

are you implying that UK/EU students don't go for PhDs?

Yeah that's what I read from his post as well. However I can tell you for a fact that two good friends of mine both completed their PhD's in the UK (both British citizens) one in Chemistry and the other in some area where Genetic and Psychological research meet (I've probably done them no justice in my poor description there).