Best Of

WTF?

One in ten new university students do not have a single A-level

Vice-chancellor warns that poorly qualified undergraduates are unlikely to pass their degrees yet benefit from taxpayer investment in the form of student loans

Almost one in ten university freshers do not have a single A-level or equivalent, official figures show.

The numbers have more than doubled in a decade, from 31,000 — or 5 per cent of the intake — in 2014-15 to 75,000 — 9 per cent — in the academic year 2024-25.

Of those, 50,000 students did not have a GCSE or equivalent, up from 12,000 ten years before.

The figures, from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, cover undergraduates and postgraduates, part and full-time students and those studying at the Open University.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/a-levels-university-students-z76bnsj8t

Wasn't the report today that the number of Romanians doing such courses has seen a big bump in recent years.

Then we have the Master by Research scam that is nowing taking off....

I'm out of touch - what do you mean?

The "Masters by Reserch" is a fiddle in two ways,

a) because its supposedly research the clamp down the government introduced on bringing your family if you are an international student doesn't apply so backdoor dodgy immigrantion,

and b) (not all but many) because its "research" there isn't any teaching, its a way some shitty universities can run a course which cost them basically nothing but charge masters fees (and crucially most don't come with any sort of research body funding, so you aren't supported like you would doing a PhD level research). There has been a big explosion among some universities that have no reputation at all for doing research.

They are sold as a stepping stone to getting onto a PhD programme, but in fact when I talk to a lot of academics at top tier institutions they not impressed at all, in fact many have a negative take i.e. if you were really good, you wouldn't mess around with that. A lot of very dodgy named MRes where people will spend a year writing some extended project of dubious quality.

Complete balls. Firstly, MRes do have lectures as it's a Master of Research, unlike the Masters by Research (ResM for one year, with an MPhil for 2 years). The majority of students taking it, do it because they want to research a subject more but are not interested in a PhD, but it can and does lead to PhDs in some cases. Also, the idea that it's not good research is a complete nonsense. There are some great research ResM (and MRes) projects. Some investigations lend itself to one year, others not. I've supervised some (including for a politician that used his research in his eventual position) and discussed others (one in particular was profound and would not have been helped by spinning it out to 3 years). They didn't warrant a full PhD because the subject could be covered adequately in that one year.
It's a good qualification and can lead to powerful results. I'm sure not all projects are great. But that's true of every project ever, from industry to doctorates and beyond. You would hardly say house building projects are dubious because some don't work.

https://x.com/yougov/status/2033921442060919251

The number of Britons saying health is a top national issue has fallen to 26%, the lowest level in YouGov's tracker since February 2014

Meanwhile, the number giving a good rating to NHS services in their local area (59%) or nationally (30%) reach their highest levels since mid-2022

Labour is working.

I still can't get a GP appointment for love nor money, in fact I constantly getting auto-text spam messages saying don't call us for anything this week, we can't see anybody else, if you need anything go to A&E.

Whilst getting appointments is still a bit of a lottery, our local GP has very recently taken on two new receptionists, Emma and Sofia. They are very pleasant and don't go on long lunch breaks or head off to pick up the kids at 3pm. In fact, I don't think they sleep at all...

They take all your details (Emma on the phone, Sofia on chat), note down all your symptoms (repeated back to you carefully) and leave a note for a GP or Practice Nurse to call you back. I expect they also prioritise cases.

They work surprisingly well. They key part is that someone does actually call back.

The actual meatbag receptionists are currently locking people out of the surgery between 1 and 2pm, despite elderly people turning up for appointments. I expect they are working to rule.

Prioritising cases would mean they come under MHRA Software as a Medical Device Class 2 rules. I doubt they have Class 2 approval.

Ah, good point, perhaps they don't. I wonder who is selling the service? It does actually seem to work well - the surgery have said so too.

They've had to put an actual human voice at the beginning of the interactions with Emma, because I'd bet that half the callers didn't realise it was a bot for quite some time.

I knew straight away because a real receptionist wouldn't give a name, despite the voice being very good.

The not trying to block you getting an appointment is the dead giveaway.

That and the "Please state the nature of the medical emergency" spiel.

The EMH would make a terrible receptionist - far too human.

Starmer would make an excellent medical receptionist. Apart from getting nothing done, he has the perfect annoying voice.