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Damn VSU 18-Mar-2005 At 10:16:58 PM AlanD

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I know this is taking the thread further away from its origins, but others have directed it there.

Part of the reason why the previous Labor Federal government wanted everyone to go to university, changed Institutes of Technologies to Universities, and converted TAFE diploma courses to University courses which took an extra year to complete was to hide the true unemployment rate of the time. Now we're in a situation where there is an employment shortage, reducing the number of students on campus is a means to put more people into the employment pool.

It might have been a good concept if the universities were well funded, but they haven't been since the late 60's or very early 70's. The whole system has been dumbed down to increase the number of student graduating without thinking about the quality of the students graduating and this has been increasing evident since the reintroduction of fees / HEC in the late 80's and has become worse as the fees have been increased. For my course which was amongst the heaviest applied science / engineering courses, the course material covered now would be lucky to achieve the levels of a 3rd year student in my time, now the course is filled with marketing and management subjects.

Not everyone who wants to go to uni has the right aptitude to be at a uni and it was a mistake to push so many into universities. Universities are about training you where to find the information you require and giving you the skills to be able to apply your creative abilities. The ability to think outside the square can't be learned, but how to apply that ability can be taught.

Back to the clubs .... I have to agree about the networking point, the people in the same course as yourself will also be competing for the same job you're going for, a situation where friendships aren't worth much. What give you an advantage in industry are the people you can network with in other fields, who can assist in solving your problems outside your skill and can direct work towards you because it's outside their skills.