To think there is grade inflation in universities

[Thetelly8]

I’ve noticed a lot of students gain very high grades it seems people getting a 2.2 or a third is extremely unusual.

@BrokenSunflowers It depends on whether employers stay there or want to earn more elsewhere.Engineering is about the only profession where no one cares about being fully qualified. I would hope aero engineering took it seriously. It’s a career beset by lower earnings for the degree effort required but also full of people who don’t want to be qualified. It should be low cost to employee because employers set up the post degree training process. That they don’t bother says a lot about the uk. Also maybe why we don’t have a great manufacturing base any more. Where we compete and expect high quality, we are world leaders.

By ‘don’t want to be qualified’ I presume you mean aren’t bothered with chartered status? That is different from not being qualified.

Longitudinal education outcomes data puts median earnings for engineering in the top five subjects after five years.

Also maybe why we don’t have a great manufacturing base any more.

The UK is the11th largest manufacturing nation in the world, the sector directly employs 2.6 million people, and manufacturing accounts for 49% of UK exports and 41% of UK R&D spend.

The more people that have degrees, the less they are worth. The more people that get a first, the less they are worth. Why can't universities realise this?

@SabrinaThwaite Yes 11th. Below our economic standing. Unlike consulting engineers who stand at the very top of world rankings.

I just get fed up with whole narrative of ‘the doesn’t do manufacturing any more’ because it’s blatantly untrue.

Yours, a retired consulting engineer.

The other thing is the massive turn towards international students to raise funds. This can result in lowered entry standards for overseas students even if universities deny it. It’s a problem across anglophone nations.

i seem to recall a lot of talk about this being an issue on taught masters courses 15 or 20 years ago, since the UK 1 year taught masters is unusual.

I was browsing the WIWIKAU Facebook page this morning and there is a discussion about staying local to go to the (not highly regarded) universities due to financial considerations.

@SabrinaThwaite I did not say we didn’t manufacture any more. I said as the 6th biggest economy, 11th is below where we should be. Look at who does earn the money for the UK plc. Yes, DH is semi retired. Still working at 72 mainly because he’s got respected experience and qualifications.

We’re 6th despite not being a top 10 manufacturer. It’s likely if we moved away from a service economy back to a manufacturing based economy we’d slip in the world rankings.

Does anyone have any links to what proportion of GDP is manufacturing/service based of the top 5 countries (US, Japan, China, India, Germany)? I wonder if manufacturing is now a lower % in those countries too?

And DH has recently retired at 73, due to his experience (high tech manufacturing).

And I know several people, who were still highly sought after professionals, who retired in their early 60s because they made enough money that they didn’t need to work until their 70s…

Good for them.
Life has a way of throwing curve balls.

Food for thought perhaps?

We don’t need the money! Luckily. DH wants to keep his brain in working order.

Don’t worry, they have good pensions.

This thread seems to have degenerated into weird one-upmanship over engineering and the elderly which has very little relevance for students aiming for university today.

@BrokenSunflowersIt does have relevance. The dc just starting out might need to know where work is available into their future. Running a company is not done by AI. Neither assessment of faulty buildings. I’d say what work is available will be informative regarding choosing a degree and then what avenue dc choose. A sector that’s world leading is better than one that isn’t plus dc don’t want to lose out to AI.

Totally agree!

A full thread on putting down our new generation of graduates. How disheartening for anyone due to graduate soon.

My dd graduates this summer with a MEng . She’s aiming for a first and works her arse off to hopefully get that grade. She is in the library from 9am- 6pm Mon- Fri studying for exams just now as well as studying at home in the weekend.
When my peers were at uni they were too busy at the union, drinking and dancing the 4 years at uni away, I could probably count on one hand how many nights out my dad has had this year .

Good luck to your DD @2chocolateoranges

Well seeing as there’s no point getting a 2:2 or 3rd because you might as well not have a degree perhaps students have realised they need to work harder to make their £50,000 degree worthwhile. In the past it was free… so people could be lax