Many of the famous British universities have the ‘unhappiest students’
September 22, 2008
Britain may be home to some of the most prestigious universities in the world. You may be aiming for a seat to pursue your studies at say, Bristol, Edinburgh, Imperial College of London, the London School of Economics or Manchester, thinking that you will be a happy student. But according to a new league table, these varsities are all among the bottom varsities for student satisfaction.
Bristol has fallen from 16th to 108th place, while Imperial was third in the table slipped to equal 97th out of 119.
The Sunday Times reported: “The University of Buckingham is followed in the satisfaction table by Cambridge, Loughborough and Harper Adams in Shropshire, after which come the varsities of Exeter, St Andrews and Oxford.”
Alan Smithers of Buckingham University said, “The key thing is the amount of personal attention students get. But the institutions that do least well on satisfaction are large. Researchers are busy doing their excellent research and building their university’s reputation- that may mean cutting down on teaching.”
According to the study, overall, the most satisfied students on any course in Britain were studying finance and accounting at Exeter, which scored 96.2 percent. The Government’s National Student Survey had asked 220,000 final-year undergraduate students for their assessment of their degree.
Enid Blyton’s `Famous Five` set to find its place on shelf after a gap of 45 years
September 9, 2008
Britain’s Enid Blyton’s most popular most popular characters are set to make a comeback in a series of brand new adventures featuring 20 titles that will be released over a period of two years.
Julian, Dick, Anne, George & dog will revisit as grown ups. Chorlon, owner of the publication rights, said: “The books would remain true to the classic storytelling style and values of Enid Blyton, who once lived in Bourne End and Beaconsfield.” The first in the series, The Famous Five’s Survival Guide, has just been released in which, the now grown-up Julian, Dick, Anne, George, and their loyal dog Timmy, reunite for more “stolen treasure, problem solving, traps and traitors.”
The new animated series was launched on the Disney Channel in May. The series deals with Famous Five’s off-springs in the cartoon creations are up-to-date equipped with iPods and mobile phones taking on their new enemies, a DVD bootlegger among them. Chorion says: “The adventures of Silky the Fairy and her four new fairy friends Melody, Petal, Pinx and Bizzy, penned by Ellise Allen, are told in a contemporary tone, but stay true to the original world Blyton created way back in 1939.” Enid Blyton passed away in 1968. She wrote 700 stories spanning over 40 years and has sold 500 million books worldwide.”
Britain’s best students in the US Ivy League
September 8, 2008
US universities are on the verge of hiring recruitment agencies. This move will result in more competition for students between the universities of both countries. This will also heighten the brain drain from Britain. The British institution’s 12% share of lucrative overseas market, which is second only to America, is also likely to be affected.
Students can obtain decent grants from many American institutions as they have large amounts of endowments. The Ivy League universities- Harvard, Yale and Princeton- boast endowments totaling £2 billion, a healthy kitty by all means.
This year it was a sort of a record, as 260 people applied from Britain and 17 of them were cleared. Robekhah Westphal, Yale’s co-director of international admissions, said:
“I visit Britain every year and I have a large number of alumni there who help. We go into different schools each year. There is increased awareness and interest in studying in the US and schools are better able to prepare their applications.”
Over the years, Britain has made more use of education recruitment agents. Now that this is recognized, US, with the largest market for international students, increasing number of American universities are appointing education agents.
School ‘league tables’ in England face delays
August 10, 2008
The school ‘league tables’ in England are likely to face some delay this year owing to the test marking problems. Jim Knight, Schools Minister, stated he expected the problems related to marking and appeal to delay publication.
According to provisional figures, 14-year-olds did better in maths and writing national tests but less well in science and reading this year. A detailed breakdown by local authorities is yet to be released as close to half the results were still missing in some areas. The schools minister was expecting the problems regarding the delivery of the tests to push back the timetable for publication.
Mr Knight said, “I think it is likely that it will not be published at the same time as last year because we have got a review process that is open for people to submit for reviews until September. That inevitably has consequences for the timetable (publication) and also being able to publish school results.”
The National Union of Teachers stated the decision of not releasing the local figures was understandable, but then none of the results should have got published in view of the questions over the marking by private contractor ETS this year.
Provisional primary school Sats results to be released as scheduled
August 2, 2008
The government has decided to release provisional primary school Sats results next week for England as scheduled. The Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, stated his statisticians felt publication should take place in spite of ‘continuing issues regarding completing marking”.
The government’s decision of publishing the provisional results next week ‘beggars belief’, head teachers have stated. They caution that there are widespread concerns about late as well as missing results, and also the quality of marking. The National Association of Head Teachers states ministers are prematurely issuing the results.
According to the latest figures from Educational Testing Service (ETS), the contractor entrusted with the job of marking the tests, 99 per cent of Key Stage 2 results ‘are now made available to schools.’ It is not clear how many schools are still awaiting a complete set of marks. Head teachers also warned of many pupils wrongly marked absent.
The QCA testing authority states that it is ‘deeply concerned’ by the failure to return results on part of its contractor, ETS. However, the independent watchdog Ofqual has stated that there is no specific evidence of any widespread problem with the ‘quality of the marks’.
Foreign students in Britain to face greater scrutiny and restrictions
August 1, 2008
Foreign students in Britain will be fingerprinted under the new rules introduced by the Home Office, to rein bogus students and colleges. It will be mandatory for Universities and colleges, recruiting foreign students, to procure license if the proposed course exceeds six month duration. They are also required to keep detailed records related to foreign students and report to the Home Office once the student fails to attend ten lectures in a row or defers study.
Institutions failing to comply with the rule are likely to face blacklisting. The visiting students are required to be sponsored by a licensed institution and at the same time will have to furnish proof that they are financially sound to support themselves and their families.
Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said: “Foreign students wanting to take advantage of our world-class universities and colleges must meet strict criteria. By locking people to one identity with ID cards, alongside a tough new sponsorship system, we will know exactly who is coming here to study and crack down on bogus colleges.”
Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell added “I shall not tolerate the minority of individuals who seek to damage the quality of the education system through bogus colleges.” The new regulation is supposed to stem the’ bogus institution’ rot.
Cambridge University’s exam board head bemoans ‘politicisation’ of exam system
July 22, 2008
The government has secured unprecedented control of the examination system, interfered in the minutest of qualifications and inadvertently contributed to a loss of public faith in standards, according to Greg Watson, the head of Cambridge University’s exam board.
He mentioned to the Guardian that the government has got intimately involved in the current exam system, introducing rapid reforms over the past 11 years that have almost risked the GCSEs and A-levels credibility in the eyes of the general public.
Plans to form Ofqual, an independent exams watchdog, are likely to worsen the situation worse, since it has not been given ‘enough responsibilities’, according to him. Watson also claimed the ‘politicisation’ of the exam system significantly increased from 1997.
Asked what the effect on standards was, he stated: “The big impact is that the public in general is not sure any more. There is too much change too often. The reason why they are uncertain is because every change gives rise to a doubt about whether the standards are being moved.”
Financial Sector Is A Boom Industry
June 27, 2008
When working in the financial industry, there is always the matter of regulation and compliance to keep up with. Most areas of the financial sector are governed by the FSA (Financial Services Authority) and if you wish to work in the financial sector, especially in an advisory capacity, such as working as a mortgage advisor or financial advisor, then there are legal requirements about the qualifications you must hold.
Mortgage advisors in the UK must have a particular level of qualification and 80 per cent of mortgage advisors hold the CeMAP qualification (Certificate of Mortgage Advice Practice). Financial advisors must hold their CeFA qualification (Certificate in Financial Advice).
At times like these with property prices fairly stagnant and mortgages becoming more difficult to attain, you might think the financial sector is suffering but apparently not so. This seems to be because when times are good, people want to spend or invest and so demand for mortgage advisors and financial advisors are high. When times are bad, people need to make the most of what they have, so again, they need mortgage advisors and financial advisors.
Beacon Financial Training is a specialist financial training company, who run CeMAP training courses in Manchester, Leeds, London, Liverpool, Birmingham and more. Indeed, they are overrun and are adding more locations all the time. They also run CeMAP training in Scotland and are currently the only national training company to offer CeMAP courses tailored specifically for Scottish Law – an important factor if you want to train to work as a mortgage advisor in Scotland.
They also offer Equity Release training (a specialist branch of mortgage advice), will writing and now CeFA courses too for delegates who wish to become a financial advisor. They work for several national mortgage companies, who outsource all their training to them.
It certainly seems that all factors point towards the financial sector being a real boom industry and seemingly recession-proof.
Imperial College London to try out its own entrance tests
June 6, 2008
One of Britain’s most renowned higher education institutions may employ its own entrance exam for differentiating between well-qualified degree applicants. Imperial College London is going to try out an entrance exam for subjects other than medicine (It has one already!).
Addressing the Independent Schools Council’s yearly conference in London, Rector Sir Richard Sykes stated ‘grade inflation’ had actually ‘destroyed’ the role played by A-levels in selecting undergraduates. He added: “Top institutions experience great difficulty in separating out the best students. Even if you interview all of them you still have a problem.” Hence perhaps the idea of trailing of an entrance test that would assess general intelligence as well as creativity has been floated. In fact, this could well become the norm at Imperial and elsewhere in a couple of years.
“That hopefully would soon become a national system if that was perceived to be successful for selecting students,” Sir Richard concluded. “We are doing this not just because we do not believe in A-level. We cannot utilise A-levels any more as a discriminatory factor. They have all got 4 or 5 A-levels.” A-levels and other relevant qualifications will still be needed as well.
Fundraising drive by the Oxford University gathers momentum
June 2, 2008
Over the last four years the Oxford University has received about $575 million in contribution from almost 20,000 donors. The institute has set a target of doubling the amount in coming years. Keeping the target in mind, Vice-chancellor John Hood accompanied by four-minute mile barrier record breaking first athlete alumni Roger Banister. Scientist Richard Dawkins and Monthy Python star Michael Palin launched the ambitious fundraising campaign in central London.
Vice-chancellor Hood said: “The campaign has been the most sustained, a coordinated fundraising effort ever taken by a European university. It is a campaign driven by the university and by its colleges to increase significantly the university’s endowment there by establishing a strong foundation for future.”
The financial year 2006-07 earnings posted were to the tune of $674 million against the expenditure of $674 million In spite of positive difference of $2.7 billion. The senior officials feel that sustained efforts should be made to establish financial parity between Oxford University and other leading universities. The funds will be utilised to sustain and enhance the university’s worldwide reputation.
