Let There Be No Doubt

[BertiWooster]

I heard on the news this morning that Oxford University is going to charge the maximum fees , in order that there can be no doubt as to their commitment to excellence .

So if they were to charge 1/2 the maximum fee for example , there would be some doubt as to their commitment to excellence ?

Has the logic gone over my head ? - Probably - it's still early in the day .

[jno]

I guess with only half the income they'd have to sack half of their most excellent dons. At least you'd get a better class of Ancient Greek quotations with your next Big Mac.

[squarebear]

If the student has to pay £10,000 (or whatever) instead of a tenner say, they are more likely to want to get on well and study hard.

[jno]

you've still got to leave them with enough money to buy the uniform, squarebear

http://i.dailymail.co...662_468x359_popup.jpg

[jackthehat]

It's very clever (well I wouldn't expect anything less) of the 'premier' Universities.

[pa___ul3]

You don't get excellence with riff-raff, don't you know!

[BertiWooster]

jno - I guess the majority of that lot were from deprived council estates

[WELSHYORKIE]

Isn't that Boris Johnson on the front row, jno?

[BertiWooster]

// You don't get excellence with riff-raff, don't you know! //

Of course - if you cant afford 9k - you must be riff raff - stands to reason

[squarebear]

Yes and Cameron at the back. It's quite a famous photo.

[WELSHYORKIE]

Looks like a picture from Tom Browne's Schooldays - where are their fags? (and don't say in their pockets!)

[DTCwordfan]

the mistake that DC and his cronies are making is not setting up enough funds or encouragiung companies/philanthropists to do so, the offering of more scholarships can be made available.

All US universities charge their students. A prospective student can apply for various scholarships and hold several be they University, private foundations or their local town or city. At the top, Harvard charges I believe nearly $40k a year but has massive endowments to allow offsetting of this to a large percentage of its 'clients' - even at State Universities, these apply too.

I have no issue about privitisation of the Unis - no bad thing as it may seperate the wheta from the chaff when it comes to courses on offer, the student pool (so that the best go) and even focus research etc etc to be of more value to society. However, the mechanisms and transition need to be seriously looked at as this is what causing the concerns and 'friction' - plus they haven't exactly conveyed well the messages associated with all of this to the target parts of the population.

[sandyRoe]

Oxford was a nice backdrop for the Morse and Lewis programs on television. Is there a university there too?

[jackthehat]

It'll certainly ensure that those pesky Ruskies continue to be provided with a better class of double-agent..........

[DTCwordfan]

yes, I agree Cambridge spies can be rather Blunt though.

[jno]

Welshyorkie, yes, and Osborne was a member too but I don't thinkhe's in the photo. The Bullingdon club (that's what it was) was threatened with an Asbo a couple of years ago.

From Wikipedia:

The club was active in Oxford in 2008/9, although not currently registered with the University, and the retiring proctors' oration recited an incident which, not being on university premises, was outside their jurisdiction: "some students had taken habitually to the drunken braying of ‘We are the Bullingdon’ at 3 a.m. from a house not far from the Phoenix Cinema. But the transcript of what they called the wife of the neighbour who went to ask them to be quiet was written in language that is not usually printed". The members therefore received an Anti-Social Behaviour Contract from the Thames Valley Police, threatening the more common ASBO. The proctor concluded in March 2009: "So I am pleased to say that, except perhaps at the highest level of national politics, the Bullingdon Club this year has been quiescent."