University Bubble Making Hissing Sounds

[Si1]

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/education/multiple-courses-to-close-as-university-of-huddersfield-announces-200-job-losses-4609245

[MancTom]

2 hours ago, Si1 said:

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/education/multiple-courses-to-close-as-university-of-huddersfield-announces-200-job-losses-4609245

and its not just "Mickey Mouse " courses either. The article mentions cutting undergraduate mathematics (not sure if it means closing or scaling back). It might not be a world leading centre of maths research I expect, but with costs of going to university I would think its a good option for poorer local students who can't afford to pay to live in e.g Manchester to do a degree.

btw although some may think its a third rate uni I know for a fact they have poached an internationally renowned physics professor from Manchester in the recent past.

Edited April 30 by MancTom

[debtlessmanc]

6 minutes ago, MancTom said:

and its not just "Mickey Mouse " courses either. The article mentions cutting undergraduate mathematics (not sure if it means closing or scaling back). It might not be a world leading centre of maths research I expect, but with costs of going to university I would think its a good option for poorer local students who can't afford to pay to live in e.g Manchester to do a degree.

btw although some may think its a third rate uni I know for a fact they have poached an internationally renowned physics professor from Manchester in the recent past.

They have been head hunting and offering big salaries. Probably why they are in trouble. The guy I know there who had taken VS told me he was on £90k 10 years ago. Probably £150k now.

[shlomo]

@debtlessmanc

People always go from one extreme to another, as Visa for University students is something the government can have an impact on, to hit immigration net zero will they chop student visa by a big number 

[Casual-observer]

The UK turned itself into a mutation of Australia. 

Whereas Australia sells gig beach/work lifestyles to experienced expats, the UK flogs gig degrees to ignorant foreign youths with the promise of middle class jobs at the end of it. 

None of which is true for the majority. 

It sounds likes in both camps the reality is becoming too widespread to now hide. 

Either

• Be prepared to work in sweltering heat in the ar$e end of Australia

Or

• Be prepared to get a degree in the UK and end up in a minimum wage job in McDonalds. 

Edited May 1 by Casual-observer

[spyguy]

On 30/04/2024 at 09:13, MancTom said:

and its not just "Mickey Mouse " courses either. The article mentions cutting undergraduate mathematics (not sure if it means closing or scaling back). It might not be a world leading centre of maths research I expect, but with costs of going to university I would think its a good option for poorer local students who can't afford to pay to live in e.g Manchester to do a degree.

btw although some may think its a third rate uni I know for a fact they have poached an internationally renowned physics professor from Manchester in the recent past.

Ill be honest, if you live in West Yorkshire/that olace over the Pennines, then rail travel isnt to bad.

The East -West link could be better/faster cheaper.

But, say, commuting from mam n dads from Uddersfeild to Layds is v doable.

 

 

[PeanutButter]

Meanwhile, in America 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/may/01/columbia-university-protest-live-updates-nypd-new-york-police-enter-campus-pro-palestinian-demonstrators-latest-news

[Si1]

1 hour ago, spyguy said:

Ill be honest, if you live in West Yorkshire/that olace over the Pennines, then rail travel isnt to bad.

The East -West link could be better/faster cheaper.

But, say, commuting from mam n dads from Uddersfeild to Layds is v doable.

 

 

It's v unreliable these days, although there's a comprehensive network.

We have high hopes of the new proposed west Yorkshire tram network and also NPR improving this on all counts

[Stewy]

12 hours ago, spyguy said:

Ill be honest, if you live in West Yorkshire/that olace over the Pennines, then rail travel isnt to bad.

The East -West link could be better/faster cheaper.

But, say, commuting from mam n dads from Uddersfeild to Layds is v doable.

 

 

At least they have the option of Northern, or Transpennine so there's a semblance of competition. And if you know what you are doing, there are ways of undercutting the higher headline fares. 

[Si1]

https://www.economist.com/china/2024/04/18/why-so-many-chinese-graduates-cannot-find-work

[shlomo]

52 minutes ago, Si1 said:

https://www.economist.com/china/2024/04/18/why-so-many-chinese-graduates-cannot-find-work

This changed economic environment is going to have a big impact 

[debtlessmanc]

18 minutes ago, shlomo said:

This changed economic environment is going to have a big impact 

Yes they tell me this, but that is why U.K. universities are so popular. It gives their CVs the edge, so they say.

[shlomo]

14 minutes ago, debtlessmanc said:

Yes they tell me this, but that is why U.K. universities are so popular. It gives their CVs the edge, so they say.

This could be the last roll of the dice to change the variables, I think with goverments need to cut the numbers of people coming to the UK, UK Universities will need to cut staff numbers as you said regional Unis will face the most cuts.

I can see by 2027 foreign students in the UK will probably be less than half the number today

 

 

[MancTom]

Unfortunatally paywalled and I can't find another source. Looks like Huddersfield is shutting down and making 10 staff redundant at a facility related to UK fusion research.

https://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/uk/universities/2024/5/University-s-job-cuts-hit-national-research-infrastructure.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rpMailing&utm_campaign=personalNewsDailyUpdate_2024-05-09

[fellow]

Universities warn of fall in number of international student applications due to visa restrictions

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/universities-government-home-secretary-universities-uk-home-office-b1157284.html

Quote

Universities have reported a fall in the number of applications from international students, as they urged the Government against any further changes to its migration policy. 

The warning comes ahead of a report expected this week on the graduate visa route amid concern from the university sector that the Government may introduce further restrictions on overseas students.

Of 75 universities responding to a survey this month, 88% reported a decrease in postgraduate applications from international students for the September 2024 intake compared to a year ago – with an aggregated decrease of 27%. 

For undergraduate applications, 62% reported a reduction to the British Universities International Liaison Association (BUILA) survey – with an aggregated decrease of 5%.

The fall in applications follows the introduction of restrictions on students bringing family over to the UK, as well as higher salary thresholds for work visas.

The Government also commissioned a rapid review of the graduate visa route – which enables international students to work in the UK for two to three years after completing their course – raising fears from the sector that this could lead to further changes.

 

Edited Monday at 07:33 by fellow

[Si1]

https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-views-of-the-uk-2024-may-phd-training-looks-like-uk-universities-next-crisis/

 

[fellow]

England’s universities face ‘closure’ risk after student numbers dive

https://www.ft.com/content/8d85daa4-fb39-4fdf-9ffe-e1599e87bce0

Quote

Universities in England face a looming funding crisis as a result of a fall in student applications, with some requiring deep cuts to avoid closure, the sector’s regulator has found.

The warning will be issued in the Office for Students’ annual report on the financial health of the sector, which will be published on Thursday morning.  The report, extracts of which have been seen by the Financial Times, finds 40 per cent of England’s universities expect to be in deficit in the 2023-24 academic year, with an “increasing number” showing low levels of cash flow.  “An increasing number of providers will need to make significant changes to their funding model in the near future to avoid facing a material risk of closure,” the report will say. 

The findings come as the higher education sector battles with government over plans to restrict further the number of lucrative international graduate students who come and study in the UK.  The government removed the right of overseas graduate students from bringing family members, and increased the salary threshold for skilled workers from £26,200 to £38,700, contributing to a sharp drop-off in applications.

Edit:: here's the full report:

https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/ly1buqlj/financial-sustainability-report2024.pdf

Edited yesterday at 11:33 by fellow

[Dreamcasting]

4 minutes ago, fellow said:

England’s universities face ‘closure’ risk after student numbers dive

This is a good thing. University became a money racket several years ago.

In my industry we require highly technical people. The problem is the standards of many recent grads isn't up to it so we have to source from elsewhere. In one recent recruitment, the majority of ee and cs grads couldn't explain what the below represented. Very worrying.

[Casual-observer]

2 minutes ago, Dreamcasting said:

This is a good thing. University became a money racket several years ago.

I

Bingo...it's always been about

1) flogging student debt

2) Fuelling HPI to keep the BTL industry ticking over. 

Men in the states are increasingly avoiding university as it's become obvious it's turned into a complete gig. Why layer yourself with farcical life long student debts when you can learn a trade for more cheaply requiring less time to learn to qualify. 

I suspect the same is happening here. 

The trade off between that route versus trying to get a high earning job post university to justify the debt is no longer there. 

It also appears to still operate on the dogmatic fantasy you need to be on campus to even get these degree's. In reality you could easily spend half the time on campus. The whole enterprise is wrapped up in some Victorian era fairy-tale preparing them for a business world that's becoming far more hybrid in it's working practise's. 

[MancTom]

19 minutes ago, Dreamcasting said:

This is a good thing. University became a money racket several years ago.

In my industry we require highly technical people. The problem is the standards of many recent grads isn't up to it so we have to source from elsewhere. In one recent recruitment, the majority of ee and cs grads couldn't explain what the below represented. Very worrying.

what is it? I'm not from a cs or ee background, but would guess it's some kind of representation of either a logic gate on a computer chip or how 0/1 value of a bit is set/flipped. But I only say this because you mention computer science being relevant.

Edited Thursday at 12:18 by MancTom

[Si1]

43 minutes ago, Dreamcasting said:

This is a good thing. University became a money racket several years ago.

In my industry we require highly technical people. The problem is the standards of many recent grads isn't up to it so we have to source from elsewhere. In one recent recruitment, the majority of ee and cs grads couldn't explain what the below represented. Very worrying.

I should think a good 18/19 year old with technical engineering A levels, FE diploma or level 3 EE apprenticeship should know that?

university should be about research skills, thinking outside the box; probably need to halve graduate numbers and ramp up technical colleges instead

[MancTom]

1 minute ago, Si1 said:

I should think a good 18/19 year old with technical engineering A levels, FE diploma or level 3 EE apprenticeship should know that?

university should be about research skills, thinking outside the box; probably need to halve graduate numbers and ramp up technical colleges instead

it is isn't it? In my physics degree half of the final years marks went to project based research work, think it was also a high fraction in third year too. Only first and second years had most of the marks on exams.

[onlooker]

6 minutes ago, MancTom said:

it is isn't it? In my physics degree half of the final years marks went to project based research work, think it was also a high fraction in third year too. Only first and second years had most of the marks on exams.

How many jobs, which these graduates are going into, require that type of 'project based research work' thinking? Very few. It has always struck me that project based work is a good escape clause for the lecturers. There is nothing to actually set as questions and nothing to mark closely - they read through the thesis, and if they like you, you're through. Probably nobody fails anyway.

[MancTom]

5 minutes ago, onlooker said:

How many jobs, which these graduates are going into, require that type of 'project based research work' thinking? Very few. It has always struck me that project based work is a good escape clause for the lecturers. There is nothing to actually set as questions and nothing to mark closely - they read through the thesis, and if they like you, you're through. Probably nobody fails anyway.

It's a physics degree. Part of being a physicist is doing research and experiments. What you say therefore makes no sense. How can you have a physics degree and only be able to regurgitate existing knowledge and not have any demonstrable ability to perform experiments and measure things.

Edited Thursday at 13:02 by MancTom

[Dreamcasting]

16 minutes ago, MancTom said:

what is it? I'm not from a cs or ee background, but would guess it's some kind of representation of either a logic gate on a computer chip or how 0/1 value of a bit is set/flipped. But I only say this because you mention computer science being relevant.

I have to say your guess isn't any worse than the majority of responses we got. It's a binary correlator (2 actual correlators). Basically binary detection with the diagram showing two matched filters, one matched to s1(t) and the other to s2(t) with the correlator outputs differenced to form z(T) = z1(T) - Z2(T). To add more context though we did state that the example related to the detection of signals in gaussian noise, so that should have been enough for any candidate to explain the representation at a high enough level without even needing to dig deep into the maths.