WillPS wrote:
Depends what you want from a university. When I looked for somewhere to study a web computing discipline there were only a handful of institutions offering such courses, and less still offering sandwich courses. Off the top of my head, one was Nottingham Trent, who I discounted immediately because I wanted to leave Nottingham; University of Wales Aberystwyth who I visited but found the facilities to be massively outdated and lecturers without a clear message to give me about the course they were offering and a couple of other random former polytechnics.
Sheffield Hallam had modern facilities (including a building which opened the month I started), charismatic but focussed lecturers and, most importantly for me, they offer a clear path toward the end-goal which is employability. I didn't go to university to get letters after my name - I went to university to get a professional level of understanding in an area I had long held an interest.
For my mind, the renaming of polytechnics to universities was a mistake - they are good at different things and I think positioning one as the other has just made it appear weaker.
I'd be interested to know what you're basing your "subpar" conclusion on.
I accept that for certain courses you may feel limited in your choice of institution. Indeed, I know one person, a computing student, who felt like their only real option was the University of Derby for the course they were after. They have, unfortunately, come to regret that decision, owing to the lack of resources, shoddy lecturing and so on. I've heard similar stories from other people who belong to ex-polytechnics and newer institutions.
Taking my subject, for example: the fact that Sheffield Hallam and other such institutions offer Law degrees for 300 UCAS points (BBB or thereabouts) and a crummy C grade in GCSE English is nothing short of deplorable. You cannot realistically expect to plunder through a Law degree, nor anything else worth the time/money investment, unless you have gone above and beyond top grades at A level. The introduction of supplementary tests such as the lnat and bmat tests goes to show the futility of today's university application process.
And back to the original point, I believe that this re-brand is a complete waste of money. The contemporary obsession over graphic design and branding is becoming so very tiresome. It's something that, five years ago, I was quite enthusiastic about. But having to sit back, to watch everything have its own branding board - and to see pots of money taken from misguided students and squandered like this - failed by the education system and by the job market - well, it's painful.