£20 per lecture?

That's what a BBC news article reports Swansea Uni's student newspaper as reporting when lectures were cancelled earlier this year:

"Students lose £20 a lecture after snow sends university into lockdown." It pointed out that fee-paying students are not getting full value for money if lectures are cancelled.

The article's main topic is the mooted rise of student fees - with some universities apparently considering (or even pursuing) fees of between £4,000 and £20,000! For comparison, my total debt when I finish my degree (three years of full-time study, one sandwich year and all other usual costs) will most likely come to just shy of £20,000, before I factor in the ~4% interest rate on my loans from the Student Loans Company (THANKS, SLC). (Granted, the SLC's interest rate is only 1% above the Retail Price Index as calculated each March, but it's still a sting in the tail.)

The BBC article then goes on to discuss the gradual but sustained erosion of the traditional 'campus ethic' - the attitude that your parents may have experienced if they went to University in the 60s or 70s. I'm disappointed in the way that the University experience is fast going -it often feels like a business, with the Uni struggling for funding as it is but sometimes unwilling (or unable) to raise fees any higher without causing massive bad blood between them and their students. That said, some Unis embark on shortsighted or poorly planned projects, eventually leaving them with large financial shortfalls - five or six figure sums - which they have to claw back through budget cuts (and sometimes the projects themselves are nothing to do with academia!)... but that is another story for another day.

For anybody who is not already familiar with today's University experience, I strongly suggest you read the BBC article. It captures the mood fairly accurate as far as I'm concerned, particularly further down where it mentions how student attitudes have changed and how they treat University as a result of ever-increasing fees.

However... Now I've said all that and put you on a bit of a downer, please don't write off going to University if you feel you want to - it's a marvellously worthwhile experience, giving you contacts and knowledge to help tackle the future (as long as you do a degree you actually enjoy!) but just as importantly, the self-reliance and independence really challenges you to grow up and deal with things in a more mature way. It challenges you to become who you really know you can be, given the right opportunities. So go do it!

Do not underestimate your final year

Well, I thought I'd have plenty of time to wax lyrical during the first term of my final degree year. Not a chance! The last four months have been some of the busiest months of my entire course, but I'm getting there slowly. The last ten days have been a mad rush, pulling many all-nighters to get things done (and narrowly avoiding major disasters on several occasions!) but I have just two more big lots of coursework to get done, with the last due in in January next year - and then work on my Final Year Project resumes.

Man, I STILL need to learn better time management! More bits and pieces coming soon, including some useful tips every prospective (and current) student should always have in the back of their minds. More coming in 2009 (or around Christmas if I'm disciplined enough to put fingers to keyboard before then!) :)

Back to school...

... At least that's what it feels like! Final year for me, almost time to go back to the more traditional fare of study and academia after my placement year is finished.

Now the nailbiting REALLY starts, because I have to get my final year done, all my other assessments, plus find some kind of workable employment after I've finished my Degree.

Oh, and I have to graduate too! Here's hoping.

The great Year 3 moveout begins

... And I have far too much to do in what seems like not nearly enough time. We have to be out of this place by Sunday, and we still have walls to paint, carpets to clean, stuff to move out (not in that order) - why is it we always leave moveouts until the very last possible moment? Urgh.

Never mind, I'm currently sifting through my detritus and working out what I need to keep and what I can afford not to - and listening to Beauty Of Uncertainty by KT Tunstall while I do it. That track is absolutely sublime.

Only a couple of months until my final year starts! And I'm so ill-prepared. Oh dear. :(

Flippin 'eck, where did May go?

Blimey, we're into June already. I've finished my mandatory placement weeks, and I'm now working for the boss on an ad-hoc basis (for real money!) until the end of June . In other news, we're getting ready to move out of one house and into another at the beginning of July. Here's hoping that all works out ok (there's a five day overlap between us having to move out and being able to move into our next place) but, of course, there's so many things that could go wrong.

Urk.

Last year of uni coming up soon - and I still haven't picked a final choice for my Final Year Project! Aaaaaaaaaargh. Help, someone!

Right, back to the old web design (to earn some more money to squirrel away in the savings account)