Students' Spending Review: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

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No, you are right. We should raise the threshold so everyone pays back less. That way even less people will pay back their debt. There will be no downsides. Yay free money!!!

The public sector works for us. But we must contribute to the public sector.

That was the point to keep it progressive.

Reply 41

Snufkin

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by PQ

http://wonkhe.com/blogs/spending-review-loan-freeze-is-a-tax-on-social-mobility/

A very good analysis of the impact and effects of the changes.

I hadn't picked up on the PG loan repayments stacking up on top of UG loans to change them from 9% to 15% of income above the threshold.

"67% of someone's income over £42,385" that is crazy! And this from the Government who say they want a low-tax high-wage economy.

Reply 42

hannahvictorius

I imagine the ELQ/previous study guidelines will follow something similar to this:

'CHAPTER 2: Definition of STEM

15. One of the first issues which we had to address when we began this inquiry was how to define a STEM subject. We found that the definition varied between different bodies within and outside Government and also from country to country (making comparisons about the number of STEM graduates difficult).[7] Although (in paragraph 23) we propose a different approach to defining STEM subjects, the definition which we have adopted, at this stage, makes use of JACS. We do not, however, find JACS entirely satisfactory for the reasons set out (in paragraph 17) below.

16. JACS "is owned and maintained" by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and HESA and "is used for subject coding of provision across higher education in the UK".[8] Box 1 sets out the subject groups at the highest level of JACS 3, with Groups A-K constituting a collective set of disciplines we refer to here as STEM. Each Group is subdivided into subjects. For example, "physical sciences" is subdivided into nine subject areas and then into 114 further subjects. Appendix 7 to this report lists the subject areas included in each highest-level Group for STEM. The full listing by subject can be found on the HESA website.[9]
BOX 1
JACS 3 listing of the highest-level Groups[10]
Groups with STEM are in bold (Groups A-K):
A - Medicine and Dentistry

B - Subjects allied to Medicine

C - Biological Sciences

D - Veterinary Sciences, Agriculture and related subjects

F - Physical Sciences

G - Mathematical Sciences

H - Engineering

I - Computer Sciences

J - Technologies

K - Architecture, Building and Planning'

And regarding joint honours, with the previous ELQ/previous study exemption, student finance permitted part-time courses in H,I and J codes or a combination of them. So if it had an L code in it, you wouldn't be eligible.

JACS codes are basically what UCAS codes are based on, if anyone wants to look up codes.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 43

Juichiro

Original post by hannahvictorius

I find it amusing that Psychology is listed under Biological Sciences.

Reply 44

Snufkin

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Juichiro

I find it amusing that Psychology is listed under Biological Sciences.

Why? Makes perfect sense to me.

Reply 45

donutaud15

This is out of topic so pls delete if inappropriate but does anyone know if there's any news regarding postgraduate loans (criteria, when to apply etc)?

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Reply 46

TimeWalker

Original post by donutaud15

This is out of topic so pls delete if inappropriate but does anyone know if there's any news regarding postgraduate loans (criteria, when to apply etc)?

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They are confirmed and should be available from next September if I'm not mistaken.

Reply 47

donutaud15

Original post by TimeWalker

They are confirmed and should be available from next September if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks. So if they are available for next September then applications should start in few months, hopefully anyway

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Reply 48

Juichiro

Original post by Snufkin

Why? Makes perfect sense to me.

It also makes sense to put it under social studies. Sociology is as core to psychology as is biology. There is no clear reason to put it under biological sciences and not under social studies. This is how I see it: a biological subject such as neuroscience studies a system (CNS) that is common to many life forms, psychology studies behaviour and the mind. Unlike in neuroscience, you can be a psychologist without having to interact/read/teach/research about a biology topic. This is why I find the classification so amusing.