Feature Articles.

University without the cost.

For young people in Britain the most conventional path to take is, to attend University, obtain a degree then to progress to a professional career. However, this path has a cost; a relatively immense one. Graduates are now leaving university with a dooming fifty grand debt on their shoulders. Almost half of recent graduates in the UK are in non-graduate jobs - Office for National Statistics. So why has it become societies rule of this higher education procedure and why should it come with such a price?

If university was without a cost, anyone could experience higher education no matter what background or income the student’s parents earn. It would give people who never thought they had a chance, to go to university and have equal rights as much as everyone else, to study and maximize themselves educationally and personally to also change from the social civilizations they were born into and expected to follow. It seems unfair that university is judged on how much money a students parents earn rather then on their actual intelligence. Scholarship programs should be set in place to support those students who’s parents may not be able to support but have the ability to go to university. Money shouldn’t be a barrier weather a person has an education or not, it should be about if they are academically talented, hark working and serious about getting a further education to progress to a professional career.

As well as benefiting people themselves, in society having more educated people in the country would benefit the economy. Steve Radley, director of policy at EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, states: "We need a concerted effort to get more young people studying the science and engineering degrees that will drive our economy forward and more of them taking up well paid opportunities." Governments are encouraged to push on university education to young people as it creates more workers in the professional fields for the country, looked good on a country if the people are well educated and universities can even act as a tourist attraction. Take Oxford University, a lot of tourists are seen wearing Oxford University hoodies. Having well educated people in the country also attracts people to that country, for example ‘the best surgeons are in Britain’, due to the training and national circular in Britain, this may result into in the economy as it’s drawing people to the country.

Another positive about university being free is the opportunities and skills learnt after graduating from university. The moving away from home process which 73% of students do, usually gets students prepared for life out of education, and helps gain students life skills such as cooking, cleaning, organization, time management, understanding the values and saving money. The social side usually appeals to students aswell and gives students the opportunity to meet lots of new different people.

Juxtaposing the above reasons why university shouldn’t cost, they’re several reasons why it simply wouldn’t be practical if it were free. Firstly, the country still in not the best of economic state, the government having to pay for university fees they purely couldn’t. “ University has to be funded the money has to come from somewehere. The government is the guardian of taxpayers money, if University was ‘free’ there a lot of very unhappy people, having to pay more tax, have less income concluding a more of people plus employment poor standard of living.” - Deirdre Barron (Regional Sales Manger and former student at Gloucester University.) As Deirdre states if university was ‘free’ to the student’s it would have to be funded through tax payers money and the government. As it’s already the more money earnt the more pay paid the tax to cover the cost of university would be awfully high rasing a lot of issues with tax payers.

University in Britain being at no cost to a student would mean other countries in the EU would then have to follow this system. There are so many international students in Britain it would mean the British students wouldn’t pay but the international students would have to pay which then again is going to cause a stir and it’s a fair system for the students wanting to study aboard.

"We complain about getting a huge debt, it's in a man gable way and allows families that don't earn as much money for there children to have a go at earning money themselves, if there clever enough to go to university then they should. A degree is becoming less and less valuable but in terms of education and knowledge its always a good thing to have a good education nation then a less educated nation." - Margot Cousland (Current Undergraduate Marketing Student.)  

The value of a degree would decrease if university was free, it would me tan more people with degree’s resulting to the government having to again pump more money into universities to help them provide for the amount would be judged on even more things like the grades, what university, work experience etc. University is definitely not for everyone and if it was free, there will be people attending who aren’t serious about it and may feel forced by parents to go, which isn’t impartial as it comes out of the taxpayers wage. “ University has to be funded the money has to come from somewehere.

Allen, K., 2013. Half of recent UK graduates stuck in non-graduate jobs, says ONS. The Guardian.

Copping, J., n.d. Almost half of university leavers take non-graduate jobs.

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How has the vast paste of change in technology effected communication?

                                                                               

‘Meditated communication’ defines our form of communication weather that’s on a mobile phone, via email, instant messaging, watching television, surfing the Internet, all of these need technology in order to create, send and receive communication. Communication is such a enormous contributor in day to day life we use it nearly constantly. ‘The average number of times people check their phone is nine times an hour’ – The New York based app locket. Has this way of communication effected us socially, psychologically and emotionally in a positive or a negative way?

Surely communication is at it’s greatest it’s ever been? It’s faster than ever, we can communicate with people all around the world at any time using apps such as Skype. For business organizing events, marketing, employing it’s mostly all now done through the internet/technology. Meditated technology, names the Internet and smartphones has revolutionized business completely in the past decade, especially the past 2 years. It is rare now to find a business not using some form of app, smartphone or tablet somewhere in the company. With the growing smartphone market, businesses have utilized mediated technology either for themselves in the day to day running of the business, or with their end user in the form of a mobile website or adspot for mobile. From a business owner's perspective, meditated technology has had huge benefits and been a huge plus for communications. All of our invoicing, voicemails and calls are handled through the Internet and smartphones with apps available, making running a business on the move very easy and practical. Technology has provided a hassle-free solution to business owners and has slowly begun the process of eradicating endless stacks of invoices and notes from the office scene.

On the other hand critiques argue that today we are the most isolated, and lonely we’ve ever been as a society due to this zombie like state of constantly being on our mobiles, laptops, IPads. Some people say we will begin to loose the skill of writing by hand as everything will be written on computers. Studies have consistently shown that one in 10 of us is lonely, but areport by the Mental Health Foundation suggests loneliness among young people is increasing.

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What Are the Positive & Negative Effects of Using Technology to Communicate? [WWW Document], n.d. Small Business - Chron.com. URL http://smallbusiness.chron.com/positive-negative-effects-using-technology-communicate-21241.html (accessed 4.30.14).

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