Messageboard
Notes and Queries permalink
kate going to university
This discussion has been closed.
-
Message 1.Â
Posted by sunnyakasonnycitizen (U14405687) on Monday, 26th April 2010
How can you insult your audience in this way? How would Kate be able to study for such random diploma with no qualifications surely she would have to do an access course first? Universities are closing down courses all the time and this is the hardest time ever to go to university for people with qualifications. surely she would be better of at the further education college with Pip and Jude.
Please do not say it is just because the plot requires it. Try some realism for once. It is hard enough to believe the amount of qualifications Pip is studying for at Further Education College, not because you can not study for five as levels but because Further Education Colleges are only usually funded for 4 per student. Plus it would be very hard to have the new diplomas scheduled alongside AS levels. Please try to bring some reality into the show. -
Message 2
Posted by sunnyakasonnycitizen (U14405687) on Monday, 26th April 2010
sorry about the missing indef article in front of random trying to write in educated speak for a change but hey why bother. we is all stoopid innit
-
Message 3
Posted by smarttedebear (U3614285) on Monday, 26th April 2010
Kate is, well, Kate. Therefore she can do as she wishes. As far as I recall she has never had a steady job or bothered much with studying. This is part of her character. But I agree with you Sunny, the SWs should at least try and make Kate and her storyline believable, otherwise the whole thing will be more annoying than Kate usually is.
-
Message 4
Posted by petal jam (U1466691) on Monday, 26th April 2010
Mon, 26 Apr 2010 15:57 GMT, in reply to smarttedebear
OK I'm going on educated(?) guesswork here but googling brought up an OU course "Diploma in International Development and Business Innovation." It's an undergrad course which requires no specific qualifications, provided the student can show that they are prepared for study.
My hunch is that for this area, which must bring together a background for employment in multi-nationals, global development agencies and the big humanitarian voluntary organisations, Kate's solid record of volunteering and her inside knowledge of a developing community would be completely relevant. I would also guess that the fuss the SWs made over the Manual means that she could submit this as evidence of her ability to think and write analytically.
My money is on a featurette on the Homepage explaining how Kate can use this route into education and what important work she will be doing... Eventually. -
Message 5
Posted by mike (U14258103) on Monday, 26th April 2010
Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:34 GMT, in reply to sunny in message 1
sunny, you are wrong. In many universities it is quite possible to take some courses with a complete absence of qualifications, if you can demonstrate aptitude and appropriate experience. Your criticism of the programme makers is unfair. -
Message 6
Posted by sunnyakasonnycitizen (U14405687) on Monday, 26th April 2010
didn't expect u to agree we must agree to differ that was then this is now the world is changing and yes I do know in the past this was possible but times are changing still we teenagers know lots of the m/boarders don't want us around.
-
Message 7
Posted by mike (U14258103) on Monday, 26th April 2010
Mon, 26 Apr 2010 18:53 GMT, in reply to sunny in message 6
sunny, you are very welcome to post on this board - why would you think otherwise? -
Message 8
Posted by petal jam (U1466691) on Monday, 26th April 2010
Mon, 26 Apr 2010 19:45 GMT, in reply to sunny in message 6
Hey sunny - Mike speaks the truth! A friend of my son [age 21] has just got onto a degree course after three years of being miserable on various courses at several schools and colleges, leaving all of them without AS levels, and some MacJobs. Eventually he found a low-paid job for a year in an industry that he turned out to love and which gave him the background for a vocational degree. Yes, he is lucky, yes he has to work very hard but it's still possible sometimes if you find exactly what you love and stick with it. -
Message 9
Posted by mankberri (U14406433) on Monday, 26th April 2010
isn't he a uni leckturer
-
Message 10
Posted by sunnyakasonnycitizen (U14405687) on Monday, 26th April 2010
sorry mike teenage grumps i know i can post on the board.And yes I know you can get to "uni" especially dumb ones without qualifications etc... it is more that i feel the s/ws treat the listeners with contempt the stories all seem to be issue driven and political it is a bit like the guardian the readers are brighter than the journalists and the average archer listener, from reading this boards is far more intelligent than the s/ws. I only heard kate when she came over and she was self-centered and dumb bit like Helen. And times are changing lots of courses are being cut and lots of schools don't offer the more challenging exams. so for kids of my age it will be a lot harder than it was for my parents and lots of the posters on this board. anyway it is just how i feel didn't mean to disrespect where would we be without debate.
thanks sunny -
Message 11
Posted by sunnyakasonnycitizen (U14405687) on Monday, 26th April 2010
sorry for the grammar error. It is tiring writing for grown ups.
-
Message 12
Posted by LJG (U14428911) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
I don't think that bit can be true if you look at the statistics.
(Of course nowadays there are lots of institutions called universities which would have been colleges or polytechnics before, I think Felpersham would have been one of them.) -
Message 13
Posted by Tayler Cresswell - Host (U14232848) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
Please try to bring some reality into the show.Â
Hi sunny
As the host of this message board, I was lucky enough to be invited to spend the day (yesterday) at the monthly scriptwriters' meeting. It was, as you can imagine, fascinating. The amount of research that goes into informing the storylines is very high. Without giving anything away in terms of future storylines(!), we had discussions about the practical and technical processes involved in various activities, legal issues that might arise etc etc. In terms of the Pip and Kate stories, the scriptwriters are in touch with college and university staff to get advice on what is and isn't feasable. I hope that helps to give some insight into how The Archers is put together.
Tayler -
Message 14
Posted by anna kist (U2314477) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
Yes it is possible that kate could get on an undergraduate course with no academic qulaifications and a bit of work experience but a Diploma takes two years full time not one.
And she would not get on a prestiguous course in a good university because of the competition but she would still find she pays top whack [overseas student from a non EU country - everyone is after their dosh] for an inferior course because at the moment that is how the system works...
If she were sensible she would stay in SA and get an appropriate qualification from a local university [Felpersham is no more than a local college really. But Kate is not sensible hence the running away from responsibility for a rubbbish qualification. -
Message 15
Posted by mike (U14258103) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
This could be a HND course (broadly equivalent to 1st year UG). They take 1 year. HNDs are most common in Engineering and Business departments.
-
Message 16
Posted by mike (U14258103) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
Eh? It is a university! Notwishstanding your prejudice against ex polys, Anna, for all we know it is a redbrick. -
Message 17
Posted by Graham 42 (U6041479) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
do we know if this course is an undergrad or postgrad course? surely you can't get on any postgrad course without a degree. it could be a HND (as mentioned above), you might get on that without A levels, but i'm not sure if many unis offer HNDs.
i'd still like to know what uni courses you can get on with no qualifications. -
Message 18
Posted by petal jam (U1466691) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
Tue, 27 Apr 2010 12:56 GMT, in reply to Graham42
A limited selection, admittedly, Graham, but they exist. Mike has already said that they are mostly connected with Business and Engineering, which I would accept because that's his profession. IME you /can/ do IT-based stuff too but that's not my story to tell, except to add that the study mentioned above has included several useful placements which compare /very/ favourably with a similar degree from a redbrick A recent graduate of my acquaintance in a comparable area of study is competing to get the same unpaid experience unsupported by any official body.
If Kate had rung up with the news that she is doing a research M.Sc. in Child Psychology in AIDS orphans I'd be raising my eyebrows too. -
Message 19
Posted by sunnyakasonnycitizen (U14405687) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
Hi Tayler,
Thank you for responding to my post. Still not convinced about Pip's exams! She went to a ordinary comp which I remember which specialized in technical courses, which is why her grandfather wanted her to go to The Cathedral School, remember all this having no choice but to listen since a very young age, plus Pip being the same age as me.
So now we find she studied each science as an individual exam, rare but not impossible at comp but very rare if you study french as well! In the average comp this would not happen unless it specialized in languages and even if there was the chance to study it it probably would not be included in the block with the sciences especially if she was studying music as well! I can accept she would do music as she always was supposed to be musical!! But music, french and three separate sciences wonder comp! I might not go to comp but most of my friends do or did all over urban ones; Brighton,provincial Lewes, country ones. East Sussex not to mention friends at comp in Cornwall.
Anyway off now but a lot more teenagers and young people listen to The Archers than you all seem to realize and we have opinions too! Most of my mates like Chris and Alice and are interested in the Pip storyline. Thanks again for the response.
Realize probably too late my parents and grandparents have drawn me into their addiction.
Sunny. -
Message 20
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Tuesday, 27th April 2010
Sorry, Sunny. You're definitely too late. This is what happened to me (and now ... forty or fifty years later.....)... I'm quite envious, really. I hate missing out on what happens next. Perhaps you could you keep me informed of the storylines when I've shuffled off to the Fluffy Land in the Clouds above Lakey Hill? -
Message 21
Posted by mike (U14258103) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Wed, 28 Apr 2010 06:35 GMT, in reply to Graham42 in message 17
Two out of the three universities I have worked at have been fairly flexible with the criteria used to admit mature students. -
Message 22
Posted by Graham 42 (U6041479) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
thank you. i suppose it would be easier for mature students without the usual a levels.
Now then, as for Kate getting a plum charity/ngo job in SA after taking one international developement diploma, now that is a laugh! -
Message 23
Posted by Reggie Trentham (U2746099) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
The other thing is how is she going to pay for it? Does she still qualify as a British student or will she have to pay overseas fees? I suppose she'll stay with Jennifer and Brian but she'll still have some living expenses, air fares etc.
She hasn't had a paid job and apart from the doubtful ownership of one of the cottages she probably doesn't have any money or assets of her own' Is Lucas in a position to pay for it? Would he be happy to do so if he was? Or is she expecting Brian to sub her? Can't see her getting any kind of loan. -
Message 24
Posted by sunnyakasonnycitizen (U14405687) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Hi i am off to some university jamboree today so I shall ask about whether it is feasible for a non-uk
resident to get into university without any qualifications no past history of any real meaningful employment on the basis of a manual written to "aid" other volunteer workers! If the answer is yes as long as you have the necessary cash then we will know as Tayler said the s/ws know their stuff.
I shall also ask about the possibility of a loan if you are a non-resident and intend to return to another country after the course. If the answer is yes to this as well my mates in the lower 6th will stop studying now and go on a extended gap year of just over a decade, set up abroad and then come back to do xactly the same as Kate.
Not! this storyline is, to use a grown up word,
carp!
sunny
ps elenora cornstalk I shall keep you updated when u are on your fluffy cloud in the skyxx -
Message 25
Posted by petal jam (U1466691) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Wed, 28 Apr 2010 11:43 GMT, in reply to Reggie Trentham in message 23
Reggie I thought that Brian's lunch with Kate established that he would support Kate through her next move - he explicitly brought up the idea of study. Should imagine that Kate has cost rather less than her siblings in school and tuition fees, horses, stabling and cars. Spending money on his daughters is his way of giving them attention and most parents like to even up the present-giving. -
Message 26
Posted by Reggie Trentham (U2746099) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Thanks pj. That's what may have been at the back of my mind why I posted.
-
Message 27
Posted by Dragonfly (U2223700) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
She would definitely be classified as an overseas student unless the Aldridges tell some major lies. She is a UK national but she lives outside the EU and doesn't maintain any residence here, so she wouldn't meet the residence requirement, which I think is 3 years prior to starting the course and not solely for the purpose of prior study. I know a young man who has been travelling and working abroad for a couple of years - possibly nearer three - since graduating and has very nearly fallen foul of this ruling, in spite of being British, living in the UK for the first 21 years of his life, taking his degree at a UK university and always intending to come back here to continue his career, starting with a Master's. I think he just got back in time to qualify as a Home student, but it was a near thing.
-
Message 28
Posted by Elnora Cornstalk (U5646495) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
Alarm bells ringing here, Draggers. Is this why we've suddenly been reminded about 'Kate's cottage'?! -
Message 29
Posted by A Frend (U2249422) on Wednesday, 28th April 2010
"Two out of the three universities I have worked at have been fairly flexible with the criteria used to admit mature students."
A wee flaw in your argument, Mike, is that Kate is in no way mature. -
Message 30
Posted by Dragonfly (U2223700) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
Good point, Elnora, I thought of that as I pressed post! However, I imagine if she does come back to go to Felpersham, now revealed as one of the world's most prestigious universities, details like that will be glossed over.
-
Message 31
Posted by petal jam (U1466691) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:13 GMT, in reply to Dragonfly in message 30
You [we] may laugh, but.. Oop north, sometime last century, we used to snigger at Preston Poly, training social workers and accountants and running weird courses that couldn't be proper ones, could they? Quarter of a century on and it's the University of Central Lancashire. The expertise at running courses that other places didn't has made them very interesting. They have an International School for Communities, Rights and Inclusion which would be right up Kate's street. No, it's not Oxford Greats, but somebody /should/ be thinking and teaching on "Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health" and it happens to be Preston-sorry UCLAN. -
Message 32
Posted by jennet_device (U8197637) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
A bit more useful than Oxford Greats, too.
-
Message 33
Posted by petal jam (U1466691) on Thursday, 29th April 2010
Thu, 29 Apr 2010 14:22 GMT, in reply to jennet_device in message 32
You may well think that, jennet. -
Message 34
Posted by Pat_Clifton (U14447939) on Tuesday, 4th May 2010
What is the provenance of Felpersham Uni? I've always assumed it's a former HE College or Poly (although Felpersham doesn't feel like the sort of place to have had a poly). When did Felpersham Uni appear - the first person I remember going there was Roy Tucker. Most characters seemed to go to agricultural college before that. Was there ever a Felpersham Poly?
-
Message 35
Posted by Dragonfly (U2223700) on Tuesday, 4th May 2010
Hello, Pat. If Felpersham = Worcester, as I tend to assume, the University of Felpersham would be a former Emergency Teacher Training College (thank you, Wikipedia!), evolving into a College of Higher Education and then a University College before becoming a university. The U of W only got its charter five years ago, but Felpersham has been a university for at least ten years, given that Roy went there.
Check out q4 on this exam paper, by the way!
-
Message 36
Posted by My Mum is turning in her grave (U13137565) on Tuesday, 4th May 2010
nice one!
-
Message 37
Posted by antiquelemonsqeeze1 (U14259306) on Thursday, 6th May 2010
'They'(HNDs)take one year'. Do they? They were 2 years full-time when I last checked. If you did well
you could move sideways onto the last two years of a degree. Two people I know did this,taking 4 years, and got honours degrees -
Message 38
Posted by mankberri (U14406433) on Thursday, 6th May 2010
<<<< A HNC is often studied part time by students who are also working. If you complete a HNC you may wish to choose to go into higher education where you would have to complete the second and third year of a course.
A HND is studied for two years full time or longer if part time. If you complete a HND you may wish to choose to go into higher education where you would have to complete the third year of a course.>>>>
-
Message 39
Posted by jennet_device (U8197637) on Thursday, 6th May 2010
I do, petal, I do.
-
Message 40
Posted by Spartacus (U38364) on Friday, 7th May 2010
Fri, 07 May 2010 14:50 GMT, in reply to antiquelemonsqeeze1 in message 37
'They'(HNDs)take one year'. Do they? They were 2 years full-time when I last checked. If you did wellÂ
When I completed my Computer Graphics HNC, I was told that I could convert it into an HND with one year of full-time or two years of part-time coursework. If Kate had qualifications that were seen as equivalent to an HNC that could explain where the figure of "one year" came from. -
Message 41
Posted by mike (U14258103) on Friday, 7th May 2010
Fri, 07 May 2010 18:53 GMT, in reply to Peet (the Pedantic Punctuation Policeman, Muse of Lateral Programming Ideas, Eggcup & Spoonswinner, Cheese Namer & Zaphodista) in message 40
It's true that HNCs and HNDs have changed a bit over the years, but the basics haven't: a D is done by full-time study and a C by part-time study (this was the same for ONC and OND too which have now disappeared and were broadly equivalent to A levels). -
Message 42
Posted by Norwichpam (U14468402) on Friday, 14th May 2010
I hope the scriptwriters are aware that Kate will be asked to pay overseas fees for her course. I have dealt with many students in this position who live outside the EU and assume that holding a British passport means that they will only pay the same fees as someone living in the EU. Not so.
I hope this issue will be aired so more people will understand this situation.
About this Board
Welcome to the Archers Messageboard.
or  to take part in a discussion.
The message board is currently closed for posting.
This messageboard is now closed.
This messageboard is .
Find out more about this board's
Search this Board
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú iD
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú navigation
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú links
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú © 2014 The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.