Let's get back to when only the rich could go to University. Best Universities in the world then. Make sure they only do useful subjects like Classics or Philosophy though.

When was that? In the 60 and 70's plenty of students from poorer backgrounds went to University having had a superb state grammer school education.

NO, NO, NO Steve51. If you're going to speak like a student, do it properly!

As you well know, it should be
coz, like, me course like, has, like, gone up, like. I so, like, can't get meself poop faced like, on diamond white, like, as much as I usta, like. innit

Pre-1960s. Don't want all these new Universities like York, Warwick and East Anglia doing useless subjects like Computing, Business and Climate Change.

Your inability to use apostrophes when you have an English Language degree.

Deliberate error?

I got my degree in analising and critiquing articles written bye linguists.

I don't go round critiquing internet forums.

I still got my degree minus my 'lack of apostrophes'.

Maybe you'll all show a bit more tolerance towards the current unrest when there's more crime at home with less police and fewer prison spaces; when your children are sharing a class with 39 other pupils with one teacher between 3 classes; when you're paying more for health care and when you're reapplying for own job as a jobshare!
For the sake of your country and Warrington Rugby League: get out there and RIOT!!!!! SMASH THE PLACE UP!!!
(Meet at Robin Park, Wigan, Saturday, 3.00pm)

Blair's idea of 50% in HE was based on the idea that we are now in the era of the 'knowledge economy' based on the service sector. In the old days you had unskilled and skilled workers, and the skilled workers were people who could operate new technologies....now the kind of technology mainly used it business is IT and the internet which doesn't require high technical skill to use so 'skilled' workers are people who have some knowledge which they can use for productive gain.

As technology has improved we've seen a rise in wage inequality because technological progress tends to replace workers, it puts unskilled people out of their old jobs onto the dole, while it puts skilled people out of their old jobs into new jobs where their skills/knowledge are now more productive so they get higher wages. But there's a natural correction mechanism in the supply. More people see that if you up your 'skill' in the knowledge economy (ie go into higher education) then you get better wages, so more people want to do it, that increases the supply of the 'skilled' workers and so it pushes down their wages, or in the case of when the demand for these services drops (like the last few years) it means more of them are unable to find work.

Most of the courses people describe as 'mickey mouse' degrees are vocational ones targeted at a sector, they have as much value as there is demand in the sector, eg 'tourism management' is worth it if the tourism sector is booming and you learn relevant knowledge on the course. If the sector doesn't have enough demand or the curriculum doesn't give you anything relevant then its a problem. Then you get a high number of graduates doing 'traditional' subjects like History and Classics who get no relevant knowledge and rely on the idea that they have 'transferable skills', but when the graduates have spent 3 years socialising and then done enough to get a 2:1 expecting to get a good job, they realise they have got no magic 'transferable' skills that joe public who has been working in the real world hasn't got.

Ive got 3 kids approaching Uni age, have only ever voted Labour and I totally support what the govt is doing in principle. However, the govt should subsidize heavily the courses we need, medicine, science and the other subjects where we lack the skills and provide no support for crap like comtemporary dance if not all Art subjects etc. You cant keep asking the workers to pay more and more for someone else's hobby. A simple formula for deciding which courses are worth subsidizing using a bit of volume data-
quantity people with specific degree
people with a job related to degree
vacancies by degree skill

all of a sudden we realise we have millions of people with art related degrees of no value to the nation

I'm not sure why the police let them riot, there is an easy solution - water cannon. They dont like getting washed so this should make them run. If not they will probably freeze to death,either way - job done !

Nicked from newspaper today:

In the interests of fairness, shouldn't all 18 year olds be offered a low-interest £27000 loan, which they can do with as they please...