to dislike the word uni ?

[MaryAnnSingleton]

it really irritates me and I'm sure it's unreasonable, but it does.

Bluestocking - they have introduced "College parents" at Oxford in an effort to humanise the first few months at university. At bottom, it's an attempt to reduce the risk that some students develop mental health problems and can't cope (I'm thinking of a suicide case, here). It's an excellent idea and the "parents" I have heard about take it seriously. There is pressure on new students to present a front to others that suggests that they are coping and it's hard for tutors to get close enough, early enough, to spot the warning signs. Worth a risk of being a bit patronised, I'd say.

with reference to Oxford and cambridge "college" is used - not as a substitute for "university" but because that is where you feel you went. my association is 90 percent with the college I attended - all my friends were there, I lived there, all my teaching was there, all the activities I did were there. My link with the university was limited to occasional use of a faculty library.

there was a buddy system years ago at the college I went to - it wasn't very good though.

The buddy system at my Uni(versity) was limited to making sure our flatmates emerged from their rooms at least every 48 hours or so in case they were suffering from meningitis or worse . There was actually several cases of meningitis at the primary/middle schools to the campus so the warning was quite appropriate even though it was part of the usual Freshers' awareness campaigns.

'it is hard for tutors to get close enough, early enough to spot the warning signs'. I would add to that it is hard to get tutors to actualy care about anything beyond theory medieval old nose. IME.

theory? their.

I've got to this thread rather late, but I really hate 'uni'. Anyone under 30 says it and it's definitely because of Neighbours. I say 'went to college', as we did at the time (early 90s). In fact, some girl at work once said 'Oh, did you not go to uni then?'. She obviously thought I meant some sort of further education college. Gaaaah.

I went to a London college - part of the University. We said we went to college, but got pitying looks from those at 'proper university' who didn't know any better.
I hate 'uni' but frequently type it cos can't be bothered to type the full thing

Following up Mary Ann S comments about art school, I went too and get mightly peed off when people say 'oh thats a poly course for thickos' I did extremely well at A-Levels etc and the course was blardy hard to get on to. We then slogged out insides out for three year. That said, alot of us use what we trained to do and are doing well, whereas alot of friends who went the 'proper' route... enough said. Especially the one who castigated me for refering to mine as University (yes it was a poly but changed before I went so only ever knew it as such)

Sorry tangental rant there and yes hate uni too but have heard myself say it

well said ditzy - I'm proud to say that I do what I trained for (unlike dh who did ancient history at university and is now in IT- !!)

Well, ruty, that's why there's a need for back-up from College parents. Lots of them do care, actually, IME. Yet again, I've put the DCs to put on my own while my DH is spending time with his new students.

put the DCs to bed, I mean.

i say uni, but went to uni with some right posh 'uns who said yooni

I went to LSE as a post-grad and I struggle a bit with knowing what to call that. "school" sounds ridiculous to people who don;t know what you're talking about and pretentious to those that do. i avoid it really - I either say LSE or say "when I was studying/doing my masters" etc. I was known to use "uni" in text messages eg "are you in uni today?"

I hate 'uni'

I went to college way back in the 70's

is your DH a tutor OldieMum? In my first year at Oxford the first Gulf war broke out. I remember listening to the first night of it on my radio and then going into my tutorial in the morning. I mentioned it to my tutor and he didn't know what I was going on about. It would have been a miracle if he had noticed if someone was, for example, depressed. Obviously all tutors are different and maybe the college parents system works but when i was there student welfare was a bit like good food - non existent.