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Are there any truly 'bad' universities in the UK?

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Avatar for Iorek
Iorek
13
All those post-92 statute universities. The worst offender of the lot would be Thames Valley and Northumbria.

All of these schools are an utter waste of taxpayers money and is probably the reason the UK has so many garbage overseas students as well.

Known people who have failed A levels who are attending Northumbria, the sole reason being that they had the quids to pay overseas tuition fees. I would be less cynical about it if these students failed there, but some can graduate with LL.B 2:1 when they were actually rejects in their own country...... met plenty myself. I know of one recent graduate he wrote in his CV he had LL.B (Honest) from Northumbria University. I was like WTF.

It finally made me understand the reason why most people in Britain hold a dim view in regard to these post-92 universities.
I think some universities are pushing the boundaries of what a "university" has been traditionally considered to be. When you're giving out offers of EE (except the Oxbridge ones which anyone with a brain can understand) then you're getting students who are just not academic. However, that's not to say that the university is worthless or that the students won't benefit from going there.

The real problem seems to be the "mickey mouse" degrees. I'm not even talking about stuff like computers games etc - what about golf studies and so on? It's this kind of degree that seems to pull down unis' reputation.
Original post by TheSownRose
In the question: are there?

EDIT: If you're going to arbitrarily name a university, you have to justify why it's a truly bad uni. Them's the rules. :wink:


Yes - below the top 50 on the league tables. :rolleyes:
Getting degrees from these places will not help your job prospects in the slightest.
Original post by nerimon18
Lincoln. Was even mentioned by Mr Gilbert in the Inbetweeners as being ****, I quote: " Goodbye first-rate education, hello the University of Lincoln"

Nuff said


It's obviously good enough for Siemens to want to partner with it to create an engineering school.
Original post by TheSownRose
there's no University of Anglia.



Like the Catholic University of Louvain that was divided between French and Flemish speakers with every second book in the library going one way or t'other, the ancient University of Anglia has also been divided on ethnic lines with the University of the East Angles at Norwich www.uea.ac.uk and the College of the West Angles at Wisbech and Lynn www.cwa.ac.uk
Original post by Jimbo1234
Yes - below the top 50 on the league tables. :rolleyes:
Getting degrees from these places will not help your job prospects in the slightest.


What about Robert Gordon? Below 50 on one league table, above on another.

Original post by derangedyoshi
The real problem seems to be the "mickey mouse" degrees. I'm not even talking about stuff like computers games etc - what about golf studies and so on? It's this kind of degree that seems to pull down unis' reputation.


Have you ever even studied it?
Original post by Jimbo1234
Yes - below the top 50 on the league tables. :rolleyes:
Getting degrees from these places will not help your job prospects in the slightest.


So there are only 50 'good' universities in the whole of the UK?
Okay, then.
Original post by nulli tertius
Like the Catholic University of Louvain that was divided between French and Flemish speakers with every second book in the library going one way or t'other, the ancient University of Anglia has also been divided on ethnic lines with the University of the East Angles at Norwich www.uea.ac.uk and the College of the West Angles at Wisbech and Lynn www.cwa.ac.uk


If I can't Wikipedia it, it doesn't exist.
Original post by shadow99
All of the Uni's that were previously Polys !


Just because they're not traditional universities, doesn't make them 'bad' universities. A lot of former Polytechs offer really good degrees in very competitive fields, such as music production. Perhaps they're not as academically renowned as traditional universities, but Polytechs have excellent reputations when it comes to creative and modern subjects. I know someone who graduated with a Bsc in music technology who now runs his own music studio, and is earning well over 50k on an annual basis- he's just turned 22.

Don't be such a snob.
Reply 149
Avatar for Swimmer
Swimmer
15
Original post by nulli tertius
I would take it over Northampton any day!


Whats wrong with Northampton? I have a few friends there, I go out there now and then and I like it alot tbh..
Original post by Wookie42
You're missing the point and I don't really understand why you're going on and on about it. Getting EE at A level does basically mean you are academically challenged - 80 points is the equivalent of CCUU at AS level, or just one C at A level on its own... i.e, not worth the paper its written on. The EE offer from Oxbridge is obviously irrelevant to this argument since it isn't designed for less able students in the same way as an EE offer from Southampton Solent would be - it is for extremely academic students and is basically never given out anyway. Don't be a complete tool and think that an EE offer from Oxbridge is given for the same reasons as an EE offer from another university.

...


For the sake of arguing, if someone has 10 A*s at GCSE, 5 A's at AS level and totally messes up their A2 by only getting DEE or something, does that mean the person is academically challenged? No. That was my mother f***ing point FFS. Just because it's unlikely to happen, doesn't mean it won't.

The reason I even included the matriculation offer was because of the grades not the reason behind the offer - I don't actually know any university which offers EE as general requirements. (Well, I do now.. but didn't when I wrote this :smile: )
(edited 13 years ago)
Original post by Beth Angharad
So there are only 50 'good' universities in the whole of the UK?
Okay, then.


Glad we all agree on this then.
Original post by derangedyoshi
what about golf studies and so on? It's this kind of degree that seems to pull down unis' reputation.


What about golf studies at a Russell Group university?

http://www.education.bham.ac.uk/programmes/applied_golf_management_studies.shtml
Original post by TheSownRose
Have you ever even studied it?


I'm not necessarily talking about the actual value of these courses; if you look at my post you'll see I was talking about how they relate to reputation. I think most people would agree that "Hairdressing-salon management" (Derby) looks a bit Mickey-Mousey, regardless of whether or not it actually is.
Original post by SuperStarr1
I don't actually know any university which offers EE as general requirements.


The first person you quoted stated a university which does that - Thames valley. Thames valley has plenty of courses that require 100 Ucas points (DE or EE (at A level) and E (at AS level)) and some courses that require EE (albeit from what I've seen they mostly include a foundation year).
Original post by nulli tertius
What about golf studies at a Russell Group university?

http://www.education.bham.ac.uk/programmes/applied_golf_management_studies.shtml


Even still, I think people will question whether it should be going on at a university. I actually think that if that's what you want to do, then great! I don't think that's the best example of a Mickey Mouse degree, though - it actually looks quite well-organised and valuable, and it has PGA support. I'm sure there are far worse degrees than this available at other unis.
Christ, I momentarily forgot how snobby TSR was for a minute.
Original post by Swimmer
Whats wrong with Northampton? I have a few friends there, I go out there now and then and I like it alot tbh..


It has virtually no academic reputation in law
Original post by ben-smith
in Oxford brooke's case you are so wrong. It has really good courses in teacher training (is that called the pgce or something? I don't know...).
It has excellent research departments like it's urban design department and loads of the formula one teams do their research there and recruit people from there.
OxB is consistently the best modern university and proves that ex-polis don't have to be crap if they are run properly.


It's difficult. I really wanna be on the "any sub 50 university is balls" bandwagon, but there are certainly exceptions. I'm an architecture undergrad and I've seen oxford brooks on the CV's of several big names. I've also seen a few go from oxford brooks to UCL (best architecture department in the country... and no I don't go there) for their postgrad diploma. Also, i get my supplies from the nottingham trent craft shop and see alot of the art/design stuff that goes on at trent, and it's really quite good.

Seems that there needs to be a clear division between academia and other, equally important subjects that don't fall within academia. The former should be taught at universities and awarded with degrees. The latter should be taught at poly's (there doesn't necessarily have to be a stigma attached to the term 'poly') and a different qualification should be granted.

There is a footnote to this.... i talk about non academic subjects being taught well at former polys. that means that academic subjects taught at former polys.... well, they're balls.

so yes, if you do a traditional subject at a non traditional uni, then you're on a poor university course.
Original post by derangedyoshi
Even still, I think people will question whether it should be going on at a university. I actually think that if that's what you want to do, then great! I don't think that's the best example of a Mickey Mouse degree, though - it actually looks quite well-organised and valuable, and it has PGA support. I'm sure there are far worse degrees than this available at other unis.


The problem is that exactly the same was said about:-

English law
Modern (i.e. post 5th century) history
English
Modern (i.e post 4th century) philosophy
Politics
Economics

when they were added to the university curriculum

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