CHANGE OF DEGREE

by MONITOR
AT least nine months of a three year honours degree course at British universities are given over to vacations. At first sight, therefore, the government's proposal for a compressed two-year course with much shorter holidays seems to make sense, especially taking into account that the longer undergraduates spend in study the higher their debts mount. Currently the average debt on graduation is 13'500 pounds which is expected to rise to 20'000 pounds by 2009. There are other good reasons for the proposed change. It is anticipated that by 2012 about half of new jobs in Britain will require a graduate qualification yet the proportion of young people entering university is still below the government's target of 50 per cent; reducing the length and cost of degree courses should help to increase those attracted to them. The Higher Education Minister, Bill Rammell, said yesterday that the skills acquired in a compressed two-year course must be the same as for a traditional three-year course. But is this possible? Many universities will probably say that it is not because the opportunities for the development of intellectual curiosity and personal growth, intrinsic to the three-year approach, will be lost. It is also difficult to see how universities will be able to accommodate undergraduates working at two different speeds towards their degrees. Nonetheless, the proposals do direct attention to the desirability of some universities, at least, adapting their approach to student needs which have changed greatly in recent years.