[Andy&Carol]

Hi, my 18yr old got his A level results today:nice1 , he's already applied to go to uni over here in UK studying Computer Science , but deferred it until 2008 - he's got a job for a year. His results have gauranteed him a place.:cheers

Since we've been talking about moving to NZ he's begun to think about going to uni over there, he fancies Victoria, but at this stage it's all a bit open. Obviously, the choices he has is to move with us to NZ as/when the opportunity arises, or, study over here as planned and join us later.

His ultimate ambition is to live/work in Austrailia. So my question is this: Is there a better internationally recognised Degree? Between UK and NZ degrees is one deemed to be 'better' than the other, not only in UK, NZ and Austrailia but in the rest of the world too?

Hope this makes sense, you may guess from this posting, I haven't had to bother myself with finding a uni!

Thanks, Carol

[renew]

hi,
there are lots of variables depending on subject area etc.
There are a number of world ranking of universities a more reliable one is .
published in the Times Higher Educational supplemment

http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2006/

One advantage you may find is that UK universities can offer a wider range of courses within the same topic. You could for instance do a course in physics and music.

What subject is your son planning to study?

[Andy&Carol]

Hi Renew.

Thanks for the list, interesting reading.

He's going to study Computer Networks, his place is at Derby Uni over here, there aren't that many places that offer Networks specifically.

[renew]

Hi Renew.

Thanks for the list, interesting reading.

He's going to study Computer Networks, his place is at Derby Uni over here, there aren't that many places that offer Networks specifically.

Computer Networks is not my thing ( more science and engineering). There are quite a few IT people on here so they may have more detailed advice.
You may find that the year off will make his mind up.

[bob_the_engineer]

IMHO, sadly the UK education system is getting worse as far as engineering goes. The UK came up with some idiotic idea about making all polytechnics into universities in the early 90’s, which just added to the confusion.

Additionally it took away from the old Polly’s. Once upon a time you could get a university education, which meant your background was one of theory, you could get a Polly education which meant you actually knew what you were doing!

For me it was an old Uni education, I could do the maths, but an employer knew they would need someone from a Polly to make it work. I’m certainly no brighter than someone with a Polly education, and left to my own devices I couldn’t make a living because I’d struggle to see the marketable application, or even how to make the thing physically work.

For some strange reason the idea seems to be that theory is better than application, for god sake, this is engineering we are talking about here, its all about application, “the application of science”. For those with a flair for engineering theory (like myself) we simply knit together theory from the sciences, the leap comes from those engineers talented enough to turn it into a real world applications (invariably the old Polly engineers).

From that point things got worse. One you had theoretical engineers that filtered the science, and actual engineers (Polly) who could turn the nonsense into something that worked.

I’m not going to go into this too much other than to say that I saw extraordinary bright students (and friends) suffer the indignity of being forced to take “Remedial Math Classes”. Remedial my backside! They simply saw the world in a different (and a more realistic way) than me.

Once all this confusion was in place the flood gates were open for anyone to slip by with a bogus qualification and call themselves an engineer. The professional bodies such as the iee tried to put a stop to this by introducing accredited degrees.

Eventually the iee added an additional year onto University courses to accommodate the UK governments forced entry of poorly qualified students. The only way they could do this was by shifting their own standards. They decided that a pre 2000 BEng was the equivalent to a post 2000 MEng.

Eventually the iee sold out completely, and became the IET. Don’t be mistaken here, once you needed a BEng (Hons) to be a member, now you need an “interest in engineering!!!!!!!”

Thankfully the trend isn’t global in the western world, an old iee accredited degree is still recognised by the ipenz (the NZ equivalent of the iee) and the IEEE (USA) once almost looked down upon by the IEE, for its poor standards, is now recognised as a better measuring stick for qualifications.

Getting your son onto an accredited IPENZ course in NZ, and out of the UK education system is my advice.

Bob