Kieran Lawrence looks at autonomous weapons and the effect they could have on modern warfare
Continuing a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Angela Merkel
Ben Bland examines the fallout from the Iowa caucuses and looks forward to the New Hampshire primaries.
In the first of a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Nicholas Sarkozy
The Yorker politics team knows that university is filled with a lot of opinionated people.
So many in fact that those less interested in the political world can find yourselves stuck in a pub in a heated discussion amongst your friends wishing you’d paid more attention in those “citizenship” classes. As they spiel out phrases such as “Marxism”, “full employment” and “neo-liberalist structures” you’re struggling to keep up.
But fear not, The Yorker’s Rosie Hazell presents a (somewhat whimsical) guide to Politics, so you have the basic facts at your disposal to hold your own with that flag-waving hippie who keeps visiting your kitchen…
Studying a Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths degree? You may be more valuable than you realise; not only are you blessed with pitiful amounts of reading but you are also an endangered species, possibly on the verge of extinction. The changes to university funding mean that the number of people getting qualifications in Science, Technology and Engineering will decrease, according to The Royal Academy of Engineering Chief Executive Philip Greenish.
With fees rising to £9,000 next year, Universities are expected to increase the places on cheaper-to-deliver art courses. Philip Greenish said “If they’re going to make a comfortable profit on students in lecture-based subjects- arts and humanities- and a loss on students that come in to do laboratory-based STEM subjects then the incentive on them is not to increase the numbers of students doing STEM subjects”.
It makes sense, economically. If STEM students are costing you more yet paying the same amount then it makes sense, financially, to prioritise humanities students. What’s more is that with the government incentivising universities to charge less than £7,500, Greenish argues that it is possible universities will drop courses like Engineering as he says it is “quite difficult to see how quality engineering education can be carried out at a higher education institution at lower than £7,500 per student.”
Chris Aylett chief executive of the Motorsport Industry Association also got in on the act, arguing the problem goes deeper than just universities, with schools providing insufficient scientific training. “Where's [the next] generation [of engineers] coming from if they never even learn the rudiments at school?”
Science often seems an undervalued vocation by the political classes. Whilst in the past, politicians had come from a wide range of disciplines (Thatcher was a Chemist), only one MP out of 650 has studied science beyond PhD level. He is Julian Huppert, and says things are so bad that MPs should be forced to take basic scientific training upon election. He has accused some MPs of being “anti-science” and talking to the Independent last year said “They have a set of beliefs and they will argue that regardless of the science.”
This seems to be another classic example of what Mr. Huppert talks about. Should finance really be universities main agenda? The government shouldn’t put universities in the situation in which they are striving to make a profit. Universities should strive to educate. So, if this fee rise is not to diminish the amount of STEM students, they must subsidise universities for these courses, and keep economics and education at a safe distance.
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