ANU sixteenth best in the world? Best in Australia?

-even “occasion”.

Not at all, dear publius. I received one of my postgrad degrees from the ANU – to which UNSW IS inferior, according to the stats at the top of this page – and the other from an even more august institution in a distant land… But I was happy to lecture at UC some time back and would be happy to do so again should the occesion arise… 🙂

The Dawkins “reforms” wrecked a good system.

Terubo..I seem to have hit a raw nerve. As I pointed out, the CCAE was pretty good at number of things – but it was not geared up to provide a broad Arts, Economics or Law degree. I recall in the 1970s that it was possible to attend the CCAE without having the HSC. That was certainly not the case at the ANU. Then of course in the late 1980s that all changed thanks to John Dawkins. Suddenly we were advised that CAEs were to be universities. That meant teaching staff at the CCAE (now UC) were university lecturers (virtually overnight). BTW the UNSW was always a university and in no way inferior. Those are your words. For the record, I was employed at the UC on a contract basis as I held a senior position elsewhere.

What a pity you didn’t stick with the ANU for all your studies, Publius, and not spend time at the inferior UNSW. That way, you might have made the grade as a lecturer at ANU and not have to scratch around for a job at UC.

I completed my undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications at the ANU and UNSW. At one stage during the 1990s I was a tutor (undergraduates) and then a Lecturer (to graduate students) at the UC. The Faculty of Management at UC, in particular the Economics Department, was second rate. But I recognise that the UC did excel in a number of areas (such as Computing, Teaching, & Applied Science). It should have stuck to what it was good at.

Most of the teaching staff at the UC in the Economics Department wouldn’t have been able to get a job as a tutor at the ANU. I also observed that quite a number of overseas students who were incapable of writing a 3,000 word essay (in english) were somehow passing law and administration units.

In contrast, at the ANU 50% of students who sat for core economics units failed. That was done so as to create a “standard”. We were required to complete 4 hours of maths/stats a week as a first year unit. We also had to do some econometric modelling. Unlike the ANU, the Economics Department at the UC avoided a mathematical/statistical approach. They got around this by trying to knock the ANU’s neo-classical approach. The problem was the UC had graduate students who couldn’t explain data contained in tables and what the data actually shows. The UC’s economics units are really politics units by another name.

The best economics students are those that have developed their writing skills AND their analytical skills. The plain fact is the Treasury and other key departments in Canberra who recruit economists know full well those that have completed “soft” options. They prefer to recruit students who have an honours degree from a recognised university rather than any qualification from a “Dawkins” university. It comes back to that much maligned word these days – standards.

The CCAE was a good institution, which did what it did (train people) very well. It was a sad loss.

I think you’ll find they only rate Universities, thus the Canberra College of Advanced Education doesn’t get rated.

I recently worked with someone who went on endlessly about their Degree (from UCan) and fair dinkum, their ignorance of the English language was astounding. The degree it claimed to have been awarded? Journalism.

This person liked to use 20 words where 2 would do, and the larger the better. Trouble was, the words used were usually exactly wrong. There is no way this person should have obtained a degree in anything.

I just love that UC holds, bang on to conincide with study week(s), a piss-up to end all piss-ups. (Anyone else seen the drunken debauchery that goes on at Stonefest? I mean, the former Bar Slug at ANU was a massive mess but the amount of public sex that goes on at Stonefest, and the sheer volume of legal and illegal mind altering substances are consumed, is beyond compare!)