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Higher Education- Who's Responsibility Is It?


Watchman

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That's exactly the point me and the entire country is trying to say here, but you seems to lack the ability to comprehend.

Let me put is very simply and plainly.

1. Most university graduates today are of poor standard. However that doesn't meal ALL graduates are unemployable. Graduates that are employable usually find good jobs, but the majority are unemployable and end up holding placards in front of Fort station

2. They are unemployable because those who teach them, the lecturers themselves are mostly unemployable, outdated and unproductive (just imagine can someone like you teach a graduate, when you can't understand what's written in an automotive forum!),

3. They teach outdated courses, that are of very little use to the country or the private sector. They have shown no intention to reform themselves or their courses. We are producing excess of useless arts, business and science students

You are an example of our university system. Its all about "me me me!!!". FUTA wants this FUTA wants that. No admitting that the lecturers themselves are at fault. FUTA wants the country to pour more money in to a bankrupted unproductive system. This country cannot afford to bankroll's more unemployable graduates on unproductive courses

If you are happened to be a graduate from a university of sri lanka, I personally accept your point that Sri Lanka produces low quality ignorant graduates.

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I think this is a traditional misconception in Sri Lanka, that you need "higher education" to be a person of standing in society and have a career. Complete nonsense of course! I am often surprised by the obsession in Sri Lanka about Masters Degrees and MBA's at the moment. I thought MBA's were aimed at senior executives with a certain level of experience but it seems everybody feels it could help them go further in their careers. My mother asked me why I wasn't doing an "MBA", and I told her, my boss doesn't have an MBA, my boss's boss doesn't have an MBA, my Boss's boss's boss (the CEO and director of one of the biggest private equity firms in the world) does not have an MBA, so what purpose would it serve for me to get an MBA....?

Dammit, I guess Mods don't have rating on their posts. I would sooo rep this post. Guess I'll have to just say +1 for now :)

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I think this is a traditional misconception in Sri Lanka, that you need "higher education" to be a person of standing in society and have a career. Complete nonsense of course! I am often surprised by the obsession in Sri Lanka about Masters Degrees and MBA's at the moment. I thought MBA's were aimed at senior executives with a certain level of experience but it seems everybody feels it could help them go further in their careers. My mother asked me why I wasn't doing an "MBA", and I told her, my boss doesn't have an MBA, my boss's boss doesn't have an MBA, my Boss's boss's boss (the CEO and director of one of the biggest private equity firms in the world) does not have an MBA, so what purpose would it serve for me to get an MBA....?

haha!

I so know the feeling; and my dad's justification for doing it NOW is so that I should do it before get out of a studying stage of life, else i'll end up with just a degree (bachelor's).. :D

Edited by Watchman
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haha!

I so know the feeling; and my dad's justification for doing it NOW is so that I should do it before get out of a studying stage of life, else i'll end up with just a degree (bachelor's).. :D

But by the time you may potentially need it, you would have already forgotten everything you've learned :D There is no such thing as a studying stage in life anymore. The so called jobs for life don't exist anymore so you have to constantly keep yourself up to date, and it's a lot easier to switch careers now than it's ever been. Lots of people do it and some with great success!

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If you are happened to be a graduate from a university of sri lanka, I personally accept your point that Sri Lanka produces low quality ignorant graduates.

if you really are a lecturer, then judging by the quality of your posts on this forum thus far and considering you a prime example of the academia elite in SL (as per your own implication in post #21), I can see why FUTA chose now to have a cow.

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....

3. Do you think government provide scholarships for the university academics?. Have you ever heard about the bond agreement that forces the academics to return back to country upon the completion of the higher studies?.

4. Go through the CVs of the dons posted in the university web sites and comment about the quality researches they have done even with the poor infrastructural facilities available in our universities. Dont you know, good research out puts resulted in the combination of the expertise + facilities+ access to quality journals.....

On 3. The bond agreement, while being a strong incentive for scholarship recipients to come back after studying abroad, isn't absolute. Most scholarship recipients choose to return on principle as well as because of other socio-econimic factors (job opportunities, family ties etc.) But you CAN get out of the bond / have yourself 'released' from it.

On 4. True. We do quite a lot with very little. Even getting adequate access to basic research tools like a decent computer and a high speed internet connection is a challenge at Sri Lankan Universities...

Edited by Kavvz
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I personally come from a foreign government Uni where part of my tuition was paid by the government as a bond (where I work in that country for 3 years), while the remaining tuition fees and living costs were given to me as a loan which was interest free till I graduated. And upon graduation no-one here is guaranteed or just handed a job from the government, and finding a job is one's own responsibility. Applying to a job may it be in a government institute or in the private sector was no different to how anyone from any other (gov or pvt) university would. And frankly I think it's an awesome deal, as I got a higher education without having to worry about money. And when I DID need to worry about tuition fees, I'm already working and have a salary.

As a non-citizen of the foreign country you chose to study in: What happens if you decide to leave and not honour the foreign government's bond? (Say you got a grant / job offer from SL or from a third unrelated foreign country that you wanted to pursue for some reason. How would your student loan and your work obligation bond be enforced?)

Edited by Kavvz
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if you really are a lecturer, then judging by the quality of your posts on this forum thus far and considering you a prime example of the academia elite in SL (as per your own implication in post #21), I can see why FUTA chose now to have a cow.

Tera, As a reply I would like to honer - Bernard Shaw

"Never wrestle with a pig—you get dirty and the pig likes it”

Thanks Kawz

Edited by udayap
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Couple of Ozzie academics have recently published a paper - “Stop the Boats! The Costs of Unpaid HECS Debts from Graduates Going Overseas”.- suggesting that unrecovered Oz student fees since 1989 could soon exceed A$1 billion!

THE have just published their the 2011 top 400 world universities and the table seems to suggest that spalshing money around doesn't necessarily result in a institution with superior performance. For example, the SA King Abdulaziz university languishes in the 300s - and if you want to see a uni awash with funds, that has to be the one.

Been back doing some Masters stuff at an Oz uni for a while this year and have been amazed by the way computer technology has changed the administration systems and with the electronic mass access to journals. For the first few week I wandered around saying to myself "what a s*** library this is" before I really came to grips with the journal subscriptions on the net. Massive savings for university administrations in terms of buildings, staff and hard-copy subscriptions to be made with these approaches. Are our local players are being encouraged to move in these directions?

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And how could I not contribute another of 'ol George Bernard Shaw's beauties on education:

"a fool's brain digests philosophy into folly, science into superstion, and art into pedantry. Hence University education...."

mind you, he had an opinion about everything,

he would probably have quite enjoyed AL! One time he said something like " what Englishman woulld give him mind to politics if he could afford a

motorcar!"

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As a non-citizen of the foreign country you chose to study in: What happens if you decide to leave and not honour the foreign government's bond? (Say you got a grant / job offer from SL or from a third unrelated foreign country that you wanted to pursue for some reason. How would your student loan and your work obligation bond be enforced?)

Well, all my loans and bond are co-signed with guarantors, in this case, my parents (who are also non-Singaporeans). So technically I can just pack up and leave and they'll have no way to catch me or hold me back. There are others (Sri Lankans) who got their degree and simply bailed without paying back. There's a chance they could get detained the next time they are in Singapore. But not too sure on how they'll implement it. But there's that sense of moral conscience of not wanting to just bail on someone who has given you so much.

And worse, because of people like them (those that just bailed) the university is becoming more and more reluctant in admitting Sri Lankans, from selecting about 30-40 per cohort they have gone to one or even none per cohort. Another case of deserving Sri Lankans loosing opportunities due to their predecessors' actions. And worse, some of these a-holes got other Sri Lankans (mostly former students) living here to co-sign laptop loans etc, and those guarantors are now paying for a laptop they never even saw, just because they were willing to help a sri lankan student get a better opportunity in education.

Edited by Watchman
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Well, all my loans and bond are co-signed with guarantors, in this case, my parents (who are also non-Singaporeans). So technically I can just pack up and leave and they'll have no way to catch me or hold me back. There are others (Sri Lankans) who got their degree and simply bailed without paying back. There's a chance they could get detained the next time they are in Singapore. But not too sure on how they'll implement it. But there's that sense of moral conscience of not wanting to just bail on someone who has given you so much.

And worse, because of people like them (those that just bailed) the university is becoming more and more reluctant in admitting Sri Lankans, from selecting about 30-40 per cohort they have gone to one or even none per cohort. Another case of deserving Sri Lankans loosing opportunities due to their predecessors' actions. And worse, some of these a-holes got other Sri Lankans (mostly former students) living here to co-sign laptop loans etc, and those guarantors are now paying for a laptop they never even saw, just because they were willing to help a sri lankan student get a better opportunity in education.

That does seem like a loop hole, and unfortunately when there's a gap in controls individuals will look to circumvent them I suppose, be they Sri Lankan or otherwise... Does completing the process (paying back student loans, and fulfilling the work bond) give you any special consideration if you wanted to immigrate? If so, I guess that should be incentive enough for individuals from a country where the standard of living is lower to fulfil those obligations?

Edited by Kavvz
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That does seem like a loop hole, and unfortunately when there's a gap in controls individuals will look to circumvent them I suppose, be they Sri Lankan or otherwise... Does completing the process (paying back student loans, and fulfilling the work bond) give you any special consideration if you wanted to immigrate? If so, I guess that should be incentive enough for individuals from a country where the standard of living is lower to fulfil those obligations?

Well, not everyone bails. If you're persistent and hard-working its not hard to get a good job. Those who default on the loans and bail are mostly those who simply glide through doing 'just-enough' to pass, hence not very attractive to potential employers. If you have sound industry knowledge and some internship experience to support your academic qualifications, its just a matter of time till you get an offer (or offers).

You dont have to have completed the bond/loan to immigrate to S'pore. In fact if you do, then that'd mean you're establishing roots here, hence easier for the uni/bank to locate you. But say you default on the loans and emigrate elsewhere and work in some company that requires you to travel. 5 year's down the line your boss says "i'm gonna send you to manage our Singapore office next month" and replying with a "Boss, I cant go there cos I'm wanted by the authorities for defaulting loans" is not at all going to do any wonders on your reputation or career.

But should we apply a student loan framework to sri lankan universities I dont think defaulters would be that hard to find, considering Sri Lankan students' guarantors would normally also be sri lankan. And should these grads leave the country, we no longer have to cry cos they at least returned in cash the investment the country made in them...

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After 100 days of strike it seems to be that FUTA has taken people for a ride using 6% of GDP for Education slogan.

me also planning a protest

My demands are

- Reserve 6% of GDP for education

-Reduce the price of cars

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After 100 days of strike it seems to be that FUTA has taken people for a ride using 6% of GDP for Education slogan.

me also planning a protest

My demands are

- Reserve 6% of GDP for education

-Reduce the price of cars

ahahhahahhahaahaaa....never lol'd so hard man..... :sport-smiley-004:

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This is is a long term conspiracy by certain officials and government politicians. They are in a process of cutting intake of

local students to state universities in high courses such as Medicine, Engineering and Sciences, very silently in recent years by reserving foreign countries students a quota (when nobody came, corrupted UGC closed the chapter without filling those with countryman's children- 2010 intake). In that way they were able to cut the amount to 1% plus,The the reason is the making a future, make high office in this country for idiot sons of privileged politicians and related officials by creating private institutions here.

Since we Sri Lankans are stupids, this can be done. We are the very same people/parents who thought so called star socialism in 50s,60s implementing a world class imperialism today, helping to break education system in this country. Isn't it ?.Nobody can deny that fact ! Where are the children of poor people at that time? Are they rich enough to talk imperialism today ?.

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So i gather the Lecturer's got a pay hike and dropped their 6% of GDP BS?

Unfortunately that seems to be the case. The whole problem started was when the few people (who actually meant what they said), solicited the support of every tom, dick and harry to take their cause to the public. This meant that they had to listen to all those idiots who were just out there to make trouble or make a quick buck.

Edited by Crosswind
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