PCB UV Box - Follow Up

I dont wish to throw a spanner in the works but your tax pounds have very little to do with UK universities these days. The vast majority of undergraduate student funding is done by a)charging foreign students extra (at least £11K per year, more depending on the course) to cover the loss left over from only b)charging the home students 3K a year. Most university equipment is funded through industrially linked research (and industrial donations), which has to be fully economically costed, meaning all projects have to be run as a business would including all costs inc office space, technician time etc counted and charged to the project account - so they cannot be considered to have an unfair advantage over industry. Research council grants form a percentage of the money given to universities, but only generally cover postgraduate projects which have to be fully justified and peer reviewed before acceptance. And even they are sponsored by industry. If a group does not pull in funding for a year or two it is effectively canned.

Uni's arent the public tax black hole they used to be, which is WHY they have been forced (against their will, trust me) to create "micky mouse" degrees which pull in people who will pay to do a course which takes little supervision and still generates the same cash per head. To have purely "useful" degrees for the small minority who can acheive them through skill and interest, as opposed to just taking it as a way to muck about for 3 years, is not financially viable - that target market is too small and could not collectively afford the actual cost of their tuition. If you want them to drop their "micky mouse" degrees then you WILL pay for it in taxes!

In message , Coyoteboy writes

Hmm, sense of humour bypass detected, donning flameproof attire. I would say though, that if a penny of my taxes went to funding 'surf science' or Travel and tourism courses, then I'd consider it wasted (WTF is a travel and tourism course anyway?), I would much rather see the little that universities do get of my tax pound going to fund 'proper' courses instead of the bull*h*t 'we've got more graduates than you' games the government has been playing for years now.

I have great fun taking the p*ss out of 'students' on Travel and Tourism courses, hell, my niece is one (nice girl, recently got a full page spread exposing her as a binge drinker in her Uni town evening rag) and dumb as a post, but, bless, she'll have a degree at the end of it all if she can manage to keep her head out of the toilet long enough to show up for a lecture or two so she should be ideally qualified to ask if I want fries with that when I next visit McD's in her home town. You imply I would deprive myself of that amusement.

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We, the people, gave the uni's £7 Billion this year, seems more than a 'very little'. They also garnered an additional £6 Billion by the means you mention. As a taxpayer, I -expect and want- to pay taxes for higher education. I want this country to be a centre of excellence and am happy to contribute to this end. I am very unhappy to have to pay for the education of media studies graduates, golf course designers and the other dalliances. The mickey mouse degrees are actually a true reflection of our present social culture and are here to stay. Few youngsters want the work entailed studying subjects that would benefit the country in an industrial sense and as the media studies people et al invariably come from well off, middle class backgrounds and can pay their own way, then it's time the uni's were forgotten and my taxes spent in more worthy areas. (Honest!).

john jardine proclaimed to alt.electronics ...

Not sure where you get your figures from, or if you see how they are split down and attributed to what - as i say, most funding doesnt go to the undergrad students.

Clint Sharp proclaimed to alt.electronics ...

Totally agree, and yes a slight humour bypass - I tend to get defensive when people attack the institutions I work for and have spent the last 8 years doing 80 hour weeks to progress in, its only natural. And yes, we too skit the mickey mouse degrees. Just be wary of tarring all "students" with the same brush thats all :)

Here is a photo of my home-made UV exposure unit:

It cost me about =A325 to build it.

Leon

Leon proclaimed to alt.electronics ...

What do you use to sensitize the board? Or do you buy presensitized?

Hi Leon,

Noted. In the end I bought the one on eBay. But still have an idea about an LED UV box for the small size.

Aly :-)