SA University standards are dropping

[UnUnOctium]

Hmm..definitely sounds like you must be in the engineering faculty? The only stuff I hear coming out of lecturers' offices are about share options/evaluation, exchange rates, accounting etc. Yes, I'm a Commerce student I heard the maths is pretty tough in 2nd year in engineering, have a few mates doing it. 2 have already dropped out, some others are precariously close to dropping out. There are about 2 or 3 doing very well in the maths though.

Correct. In undergrad we had 3 left (english) by graduation. It's just that for some reason here I only hear about people failing their asses of (in degrees other than engineering too). Or maybe it's just subjective because a LOT of people failed around me when I was an undergrad.

 

[Alestorm]

It is however sad to see that every year the universities drop a ranking or two

According to the Times University ranking that was also released recently UCT actually went up a few places. http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-09-17-uct-pops-up-on-global-varsity-list

They criticised the QS rankings and I'm sure the QS ranking criticise the Times and so on. These rankings are hardly a direct indicator of changing university standards year by year. So I'd say misleading thread title.. but pretty normal for MyADSL anyway.

 

[DigitalSoldier]

UNISA workload may be less than full time Universities, but that is not say the end results are not the same. Sounds more like he is doing a 1st level module, these are piss easy but its more an effort to get students use to the UNISA system. (UNISA recently moved some first level modules to second level status. Also MCQ are also only reserved for 1st level, you might get one for 2nd level, the rest are written.).

Hell, most of my 1st level exams I studies the night before. Only time I opened the books.


2nd level modules are a hard nut hitting reality that its no longer play time. I'm here and can say that I'm putting in about 100hrs prep per module, you need to do 12 modules for 2nd level (about 2yrs study, 3-4 per semester).

3rd level I've heard is not for kids. This is where the real sacrifice and discipline comes in.

Couldn't agree more.

My first year at UNISA I did most of the assignments on the day they were due and got 70-90% for the assignments and for a few I even got 100%.

Second year is a whole new ball. I have to study a lot more and I am lucky if I get 10 MCQ's for an assignment.

During my first year at UNISA my class list for most modules were 800+ students per module and now in second year the max is about 200 students.

I am also doing that first year compulsory module (EUP), its probably the easiest module, I have yet to open the textbook. Last week I did the practical exam at UNISA, and we had to type in excel our exam centre. We had to wait a little longer to start the test because a few people could not spell Pretoria correctly!!

 

[zulgin]

According to the Times University ranking that was also released recently UCT actually went up a few places. http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-09-17-uct-pops-up-on-global-varsity-list

They criticised the QS rankings and I'm sure the QS ranking criticise the Times and so on. These rankings are hardly a direct indicator of changing university standards year by year. So I'd say misleading thread title.. but pretty normal for MyADSL anyway.

according to your source

“There is no doubt that South African higher education will soon be facing the same challenges that other African countries face. There is a serious shortage of PhDs and research output in Africa, with only a few universities producing high-level research while the others have no human and physical resources to do so.”

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/africa.html

it pretty much sums up what has been said in this thread.

 

[UnUnOctium]

according to your source


http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/africa.html

it pretty much sums up what has been said in this thread.

Agreed, interesting thing is a VERY large percentage of UCT's output is because of foreigners. They have many incentives and want it that way which is a great thing since this draws in many researchers like that. UP should listen and scrap their 'honours' system for engineering. But yea, my 2c.

P.S. The guy they interviewed for that article (Goolam Mohamedbhai) is a total dumbass. He's on his own little "Mugabe-ist" mission saying that African universities shouldn't care about how they compare to international universities but rather just teach/focus on work concerning problems in Africa.

 

[Alchemist]

A friend of mine's father, who was a physics professor at Wits, and has also been involved with CERN, was given the carrot at Wits because he was too white.

 

[scotty777]

A friend of mine's father, who was a physics professor at Wits, and has also been involved with CERN, was given the carrot at Wits because he was too white.

how does that make sense? I go to wits, and out of all my physics lecturers, I've had 6 white guys (4 of which are foreigners, 1 American, 1 Austrian, 1 Russian, 1 Scottish), and 3 Indian (2 of which are foreigners). Not a single black guy has given me a lecture thus far in physics. So I'm doubting he was fired because he was too white... More like the son wanted to dramatize the story just a little bit .

 

[Alchemist]

how does that make sense? I go to wits, and out of all my physics lecturers, I've had 6 white guys (4 of which are foreigners, 1 American, 1 Austrian, 1 Russian, 1 Scottish), and 3 Indian (2 of which are foreigners). Not a single black guy has given me a lecture thus far in physics. So I'm doubting he was fired because he was too white... More like the son wanted to dramatize the story just a little bit .

This is going back a few years ago. Maybe they realised their stuff up *shrug*

 

[Alestorm]

according to your source

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/africa.html

it pretty much sums up what has been said in this thread.

That's interesting because of the varsities I know (at least UCT and CPUT) a large number of their PhD and masters students, or almost all in some cases, are foreigners from Africa. It's like South Africans get brain drained to the first world and we brain drain the rest of Africa.

Also I personally don't think PhD numbers and research output have such a big influence on the standard of education at the university. Most students never go past honours and it's not necessary unless you want to be an academic in the field or do some specific research. The standards of education for the workforce/economy could well be increasing while PhD level research decreases and the rankings drop a university lower. So I wouldn't assume that one of these rankings dropping our universities (while the other increases) means that the standard of education is definitely dropping.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Couldn't agree more.

My first year at UNISA I did most of the assignments on the day they were due and got 70-90% for the assignments and for a few I even got 100%.

Second year is a whole new ball. I have to study a lot more and I am lucky if I get 10 MCQ's for an assignment.

During my first year at UNISA my class list for most modules were 800+ students per module and now in second year the max is about 200 students.

I am also doing that first year compulsory module (EUP), its probably the easiest module, I have yet to open the textbook. Last week I did the practical exam at UNISA, and we had to type in excel our exam centre. We had to wait a little longer to start the test because a few people could not spell Pretoria correctly!!

LOL

I'm doing the 2nd Delphi module (INF2611) this semester and we are 26 students ... WTF ... last semester for 1st Delphi module we where a couple of hundred.

 

[Ricard]

LOL

I'm doing the 2nd Delphi module (INF2611) this semester and we are 26 students ... WTF ... last semester for 1st Delphi module we where a couple of hundred.

*Gawd*.. is someone STILL beating that Delphi horse I thought it was dead and buried

 

[Ricard]

That's interesting because of the varsities I know (at least UCT and CPUT) a large number of their PhD and masters students, or almost all in some cases, are foreigners from Africa. It's like South Africans get brain drained to the first world and we brain drain the rest of Africa.

Also I personally don't think PhD numbers and research output have such a big influence on the standard of education at the university. Most students never go past honours and it's not necessary unless you want to be an academic in the field or do some specific research. The standards of education for the workforce/economy could well be increasing while PhD level research decreases and the rankings drop a university lower. So I wouldn't assume that one of these rankings dropping our universities (while the other increases) means that the standard of education is definitely dropping.

Why should they go beyond honours? .. Grants for research are almost non-existent and even if you start a company based on your knowledge, you get very little tax relief as a new startup. Other countries offer cash incentives for companies that are breaking the boundaries in technology (or have new novel ideas) so go to a place where you can start a company and get paid by the Govt for new innovative research.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

*Gawd*.. is someone STILL beating that Delphi horse I thought it was dead and buried

Tell me. I'm attempting to finish my second assignment tonight and hating it. As soon as I'm done this semester, the Delphi gets shift-deleted.

 

[battletoad]

i think the problem lies at high school. Obe was the killer.
Im tutoring mathematics, the calibre of the ave student is diabolical. Thing is, these students dont think further at all, evidence being them rarely opening their textbooks. I mean, my james stewart was my best friend in 1st yr, tell them 'stewart' and they reply 'whose that'?

Then again i had classmates who memorized their way to a degree. Still do now in honours, altho its tough times for them now. Call it schadenfreude or sadistic but i'm happy. No one should cheapen the degree im working my socks off for because they play the system forced onto universities by idiot politicians

I say, universities and recognised techs should have free reign over the education system. Hell, imo ministers should have a relevant degree/diploma AND 10+years experience in their field, but then again maybe because thats the most logical thing to do.

 

[AvatarTheFallen]

Just a quick question for the UNISA Students. Do you still have to write code on a piece of paper in your exams? Or has UNISA joined the joined the 21st Century?

 

[krycor]

I think reality kicks in for most.. why struggle at uct when u can coast elsewhere? at the end of the day if u can finish varsity with excellent results from a semi decent place you WAY better off than scrapping through uct. HR recruiters are silly like that but that's the way it is

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

Just a quick question for the UNISA Students. Do you still have to write code on a piece of paper in your exams? Or has UNISA joined the joined the 21st Century?

Actually writing code on paper is still better. Requires more effort & planning from the student - a skill that is required in everyday coding. Must say that since I started to study at UNISA, my coding has improved as I've learnt to think it out first instead doing the infinite recursive:

"function mustDoSomething() // brainblock, cannot think??"


But I always find it ironic that the most critical new UNISA students on writing code by hand in the exams are the ones who never seem to make it. They always just disappear by the second year.

 

[Other Pineapple Smurf]

I think reality kicks in for most.. why struggle at uct when u can coast elsewhere? at the end of the day if u can finish varsity with excellent results from a semi decent place you WAY better off than scrapping through uct. HR recruiters are silly like that but that's the way it is

The only advantage about UNISA over UCT is that UNISA has the same face value across the country, where regional universities are more localised. If someone tells me he got his BSc at UCT, I don't care about his marks but say awesome.

If someone tells me he got his BSc at the University of the Free State, I friggn wet my pants as I assume the limit of their Modern Computing syllabus was the ENIAC.

 

[shogun]

If someone tells me he got his BSc at the University of the Free State, I friggn wet my pants as I assume the limit of their Modern Computing syllabus was the ENIAC.

That's because it was

*flamesuit on

 

[scotty777]

I think reality kicks in for most.. why struggle at uct when u can coast elsewhere? at the end of the day if u can finish varsity with excellent results from a semi decent place you WAY better off than scrapping through uct. HR recruiters are silly like that but that's the way it is

how so? My Wits engineering course is almost exactly the same as UCT's (only difference is I do 1/2 year chem and full year English (report writing) and electric circuits in first year)... So if I do the same course, that has the same material, and pass, thus gaining the same knowledge, then how is it anywhere near possible that my degree is less valuable than UCT's?