"I am completely fine with some universities collapsing" = "I am completely fine with the local economies of some former industrial towns collapsing" - ThreadSky

eddierobson.bsky.social • 3 days ago

"I am completely fine with some universities collapsing" = "I am completely fine with the local economies of some former industrial towns collapsing"

Reposted from Peter Whitewood

As ever, the loudest voices calling for the collapse of universities, presumably in the post-92 sector, benefitted from privileged educations.

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komisarnym.bsky.social•3 days ago

Are these people completely oblivious to the fact, how ungodly high number of people universities employ?

olvera.bsky.social•3 days ago

I was lucky to have an apprenticeship in the steel company in Port Talbot. Learning many skills from metalwork to electronic engineering. Came out with OND and HNC in electrical engineering. We do need more practical skills, but without the arts, life is so much poorer.

verityplayer.bsky.social•3 days ago

This is just the 21st century version of "you can't get the staff these days" isn't it?

williameburns.bsky.social•3 days ago

The two leading Anglophone academic powers are killing off their university systems at the same time. Take it away, China.

jonroberts.bsky.social•3 days ago

Just more performative cruelty for the right. It's maddening

sandypuke.bsky.social•3 days ago

I don’t know if my grammar school education counts as ‘privileged’ but I agree with this. We wrongly expect all young people to be academic when many would excel at more practical skills. We need to respect these different attributes and train our young to make the best of them.
They win. We win.

eddierobson.bsky.social•3 days ago

But we don't expect all young people to be academic. Half of young people don't go to university. Maybe we could focus on making the most of their practical skills rather than destroying one of our few world-leading industries in the belief this will magically address the shortage of tradespeople.

sandypuke.bsky.social•3 days ago

I struggle with the idea that everyone who is above average academically will automatically be best suited to higher education and no less with the suggestion that those with below average academic ability shouldn’t be better encouraged through different routes. We can and should better respect…

sandypuke.bsky.social•3 days ago

…practical skills and I interpreted this suggestion - of establishing more vocational training as an alternative. I think that’s a sensible way forward.

eddierobson.bsky.social•3 days ago

"Let's just let some universities go bust" will not achieve that. It will sink the towns around those universities though.

sandypuke.bsky.social•3 days ago

Well as I understand it, many universities are currently struggling financially anyway. But that aside at least one of these ‘blue Labour’ characters is advocating a change of role rather than complete elimination.

edgranter.bsky.social•3 days ago

Massive impact on some cities also.

seanmason87.bsky.social•3 days ago

What production jobs are he talking about? The ones the robots do?

johkmil.bsky.social•3 days ago

Somehow, I doubt he has a particularly well-developed idea on how to make UK production and manufacturing profitable enough on the international stage to warrant a large increase in the number of vocational colleges. “E-mail jobs” is just what makes sense financially – education is a major export!

edgranter.bsky.social•3 days ago

You know, steel, ships, cars, consumer electronics, textiles - all those big and thriving UK employers.

edgranter.bsky.social•3 days ago

To be clear, I'd welcome a revival of all those industries, but we're one of the most deindustrialized nations on earth and the investment would need to be immense and highly strategic.

jannerboyuk.bsky.social•3 days ago

It’s utterly mad - i live next to a University in a welsh valleys town which overall provides 2900 jobs and down the road is a great vocational college - this either/or nonsense is such rubbish!

betterpolo.bsky.social•3 days ago

Treforest by any chance?

jannerboyuk.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yep.

betterpolo.bsky.social•3 days ago

My Mother was born there 😊 I recently thought about a trip there and noticed it was now a Uni town. Imagine it's all a bit different from my memories of my last visit 50 years ago. Which illustrates your point exactly.

jannerboyuk.bsky.social•3 days ago

The campus is very nice, ironically as it started as the School of Mines it does lots of practical courses such as engineering and even…apprenticeships https://www.southwales.ac.uk/study/apprenticeships/ - that’ll confuse ‘em!

eric2907.bsky.social•3 days ago

For us in America, it's the same story on immigration. So many people who have been able to come here seem more than happy to pull up the ladder and leave desperate people nowhere to go.
Instead of E Pluribus Unum, our motto should be, "I've got mine. You can fuck off."

fieldbean.bsky.social•3 days ago

I don't which 'working-class people they think they're courting but not previous generations of my family.

davemck.bsky.social•3 days ago

It's down to money though. Unis are now partly funded through foreign students rather than direct government funding.
Boris Johnston didn't want to increase spending on universities by dramatically increasing the numbers of foreign students as a short term measure.

davemck.bsky.social•3 days ago

I can't see Starmer at this point finding £10-20 billion of sorely needed money for the uni sector. It needs to happen, but he's completely absent of leadership and direction at this point.

eddierobson.bsky.social•3 days ago

Quite, but they're also actively harming the sector by trying to clamp down on overseas students (recruitment of which is already down, exacerbating what was already a crisis).

clatch.bsky.social•3 days ago

I'm old enough to remember:

"Yes I know I received a free University education, but we can't afford that any more; too many riff-raff these days old chap."

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