Is University Knowledge The Same As Knowing?

The BBC reports that India aims to be the next university superpower and the metric chosen to indicate this 'super-powerness' is the number of graduates.

Just stop and think for a minute. Is that really the most appropriate measure of how intellectually powerful your nation is? It's the same as a student claiming that an assignment of 10,000 words is better than than an assignment of 2,000 words.

The other issue is that churning people out of university with extant knowledge is not really an adequate measure either. What about new ideas, new ways of characterising problems and deriving solutions? As Casanova might claim 'its not the size of the boat, its the motion on the ocean'

Knowledge is a crude nominalisation of the adverb knowing. Knowing implies insight and wisdom. Knowledge implies collecting and hoarding. Knowing implies an awareness of one's own pre-suppositions and how they affect our approach to the world, the nature of reality and what are claims to certitude are based on. I wish India all the very best in her ambitions. She should not mistake the filling of undergraduate heads with 'stuff' as an indicator of knowing, and then multiplying the amount of stuff collected by the number of people with that stuff as how good her universities are.

The Consumer Vision of University and Student Commitments

There is an interesting assumption behind the so called Vision For Universities which seems to imply that students should be worshipped as 'customers' because they pay fees.

I completely agree that the experience of university should be a good one and that the thinking power in universities should be tapped to solve real world problems (as well as develop cultured reasoning and understanding of our world). Like any conceptual statement there are real world implications for charactersing students as 'consumers'. This implies that there is knowledge on a shelf which students simply access and 'swallow'. Anybody coversant with the way in which adults learn knows that this is a gross and misleading simplification. Higher Education isn't the mere consumption of knowledge it is a transformative experience. It requires the student (clue in the name btw) to enagage in effortful thinking about definitional issues, conceptual issues, categorical issues, and issues relating to what consitutes 'reality' and how things are known. Education and learning is not a product in the transactional sense.

There is an issue of commitment though. Sure universities and their staff can commit to providing a good student experience, they can commit to articulating the value proposition and the 'deliverables' but this omits consideration of a crucial element the system...the student themselves.

The 'value' and outcomes of a university experience are co-created. The student attitude and behaviour is directly correlated to what they are likely to get from the experience as much as the 'contact' time, tutor capability and facilities. What part do students play in the creation of their university experience?

What responsibilities fall to the student? If they turn up hungover at 2.00pm in the afternoon after getting to bed at 5.00am is there an entitlement to penalise them for adversely affecting a lecture or seminar experience for other students and the tutor?

Can tutors penalise students who don't engage and participate and make seminars more like seances? And don't give me the 'its all down to the tutor' argument that is simply unfair and untrue.

In the commercial world if attendees to a meeting were disengaged, sulky, hungover uncommitted then the person in charge of the meeting would have the right to remove them and even possibly sack them.

Just how 'real' does Mr Mandelson want a University to feel for the student? If he wants universities to get real then I don't see why universities don't get real with students. Instead of molly coddling them with 'formative feedback' and respecting their individuality, perhaps the weaker students should be told exactly how it is?

How would this go down? 'I don't think you are intellectually capable of doing the work? You are idle get your arse into gear, I don't like your attitude, sort yourself out or get out of my seminar, if you don't bother to contribute don't bother coming, if you persist in texting and checking facebook whilst I'm lecturing get out of the room, if you haven't bothered doing private study and reading the articles for the seminar I'm not letting you join in the seminar etc etc.

Commitments work both ways. If Mr Mandelson wants to 'up the ante' I'm all for it. I'm confident that tutors can deliver excellent experiences and courses. I'm not so sure students are up to the same commitment.

Are Female Students A Perk Of The Job?

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Carl Sagan said "Knowing a great deal is not the same as being smart" and Terence Kealey, of Vice Chancellor of the University of seems to be living proof.

He claims that Female Students are a perk of male lecturers job!

What an outrageous thing to say. Notwithstanding the fact that we are all adults and we know all about the birds and the bees. A university is a professional learning environment, where students are 'learners' not targets of lustful attention.

He has clearly had a humour bypass, and has been entirely gullible in regard to the impact of his 'laddish' statements. This has entitled him to a free entry in my Jackasses Squidoo lens. You can vote for him in the Jackasses roll of fame now!

He wrote:
"Normal girls - more interested in abs than in labs, more interested in pecs than specs, more interested in triceps than tripos - will abjure their lecturers for the company of their peers, but nonetheless, most male lecturers know that, most years, there will be a girl in class who flashes her admiration and who asks for advice on her essays. What to do?

"Enjoy her! She's a perk."

The damage this type of utterance can have to the student / lecturer trust is immense. Does the student now think they have achieved the grade through academic achievement or through personal appearance? What will future employers think? Might they begin to think 'is she really qualified?'

How do male lecturers behave now? Will any sort of familiarity be construed as a 'come on'? Might they over-compensate and mark more harshly to avoid accusations of 'babe-ism'? Will any glance at a female student lead them vulnerable to a raft of accustations?

I think Doctor Lurve should step down.

Much has been researched in this area
Physical Attractiveness and academic performance
Sexual harassement on a university campus
Expectations, Impressions, and Judgments of Physically Attractive Students

Interested in become a student at a British University? check out...
Choosing A British University

Prison Guards Locked in Psychic Prison

The Howard League are urging the educational development of Prison Warders and the The Prison Officers Association say: see All prison officers should be educated to degree level

"The Prison Officers Association said personal qualities not qualifications helped make a good prison officer.

It added the idea was "naive and narrow-minded".

What more compelling evidence is needed than this for a significant intellectual up-skilling of people in Prison Service!

It is not a question of either/or. Either /or thinking is indicative of lower order intellectual ability. Of course excellent social skills are needed. Aren't they in any profession?? Prison officers will be accomplished social influencers. And...

If the profession is develop beyond mere 'single loop' problem solving it needs critcially reflective practioners. People with the intellectual tool kits to enable them to characterise and make sense of their worlds and experiences in new and imaginative ways.

To suggest that prison officers don't need professional development is the outlook of the Luddite and indicative of the intellectual experience of the people running The Prison Officers Association.

This way of thinking is typical of the rear guard argument of a paradigm that feels under threat. it is indicative of a paradigm that is less than self assured. It is a Psychic prision from which the POA doesn't want to escape from.

The POA should read:
The advantages and disadvantages of a university degree

Is A Degree Worth Anything In A Recession?

The simple fact is that possessing an undergraduate degree is less of a differentiator than it was in the past because more people have them. So you might think that a swimming certificate might be of more value to you when you are thrown into the employment deep end.

The UK government are throwing a lifebelt of sorts with their Internship idea, although like a real life belt this can only be a temporary life saver.

Recession doesn't mean that all jobs will evaporate, what it means is that employers will become more selective, and that means as always that the better candidate will be selected. Now, depending on the job that doesn't necessarily mean the best grade, but when large corporates are processing thousands of potential candidates grades are an obvious 'coarse screen'.

Don't be gullible and think that possessing a degree provides any right to employment. It is an indication of a general undergraduate level of education. Whilst this might lead to a degree (sic) of independent learning capability, critical, analytical and synthesising skills, these are only a small part of the 'know how ' that is needed to operate convincingly in a fierce commercial environment. Despite 'work experience' having a degree will not provide you with the skills that only experience can bring.

The problem with internships is that they suggest that somebody can 'continue their learning' whilst on the job. Do not for one minute think that this means a continuation of the benign and supportive learning university environment. More so in a recession the people expected to guide you will be full on concerned with keeping their jobs and not baby sitting a new graduate.

So in an interview be clear about what you can 'do' for the organisation and don't spew out platitudes such as 'good team working', 'enthusiasm', 'leadership', 'problem solving ability', 'presentation skills'. Just like a degree these are now just the table stakes for being allowed to play the employment game. What difference can you specifically make to outputs and key performance indicators of the company or department? Do you have any contacts that your prospective employer can use? Do you have research or information they can use? Can you bring customers or suppliers to your employer? Can you facilitate access to specialist know how?

Any business studies graduates out there need to wake up! Do you seriously think that your employers haven't heard about SWOT, PEST, Five Forces, Missions, Values, Slippage, Belbin, Myers Briggs, Forming Storming Norming and Performing, Suitability Feasibility and Acceptability, and the myriad of other managerial concepts covered in standard business tomes.

Its not what you know but who you know. These might just be the difference between sink or swim.

Read More:
advantages and disadvantages of a university degree
rush for university places
Degrees maintain job market value June 2009

Choosing a University Resource:
Choosing A British University

Advantages and disadvantages of a university degree?

Choosing A British University

What qualifies me to offer an opinion here? Well, I hope you feel the following quick resume entitles me to a least an informed voice on the subject:

1. I've done a variety of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs, from petrol station attendant, postman, factory operative - food industry, factory operative- light manufacturing, office clerk.

2. I've done a variety of middle management jobs, from games design team coordinator, marketing executive, marketing manager, sales and marketing manager

3. I've held main board positions and share holding directorships, and participated in a multi million pound management buyout as one of team of 5 people.

4. I have a private consulting business

5. I have a bachelors degree in International Relations and Modern History

6. I have a master of business administration degree

7. I have a post graduate qualification in adult learning and teaching

8. I am presently under-taking doctoral research into managerial mind sets and individual and organisational strategy making

9. I have undertaken rudimentary training in NLP & transactional analysis

10. I am presently a full-time academic in a leading UK university, educating undergraduate and masters students, together with a variety of pastoral and subject group management roles.

11. I design and build modules for undergraduate and post graduate degrees

12. I design and build degree courses for bachelor and masters degrees

13 I am involved in a wide range of knowledge transfer consultancy projects for large public and private organisations

14. I have two sons neither of whom have any current interest in higher education, both are happy and succesful

15. I have family and friends whose sons and daughters are presently undergraduates in a variety of UK universities


When I left university I ended up in the gaming business, in a company that was dominated by Production, Electronic, Hardware and Software engineers. I vividly remembering being asked by one of the managers "So, tell me, what possible use is a degree in history in a business like this"

Being young and naive I stumbled for an answer and was troubled for many years afterwards by the question. Today I would answer in a flash that "It helps prevent me from asking dumb-assed questions like that!"

Many people who have not experienced any form of higher education operate from the assumption that it is a straight continuation of previous 'taught' experience, and this holds true for a significant number of new under-graduates who pop out of the 'forced' high school level system expecting 'Sir' or 'Mam' or 'Miss' to give them all of the answers. It is interesting to observe that culturally many Chinese and Middle Eastern undergraduate students who come to study in Western universities are presently very deferential to the 'lecturer' and take a while to feel comfortable with 'questioning' what they are introduced to. Like all students the graduate process of developing a self directed critical learning faculty comes as a challenge.

A crucial advantage of university degree is that it is a 'transformational' process that changes the way a person undertakes learning (by becoming more self-directed), changes the way a person manages and manipulates information, and changes the adaptability of the individual in the face of problematic and ambiguous situations.

Now, of course, the counterbalance to this is that 'theoretical' understanding has to be set against real world experience. Otherwise we have the disadvantage of obtaining a degree, which is the sometimes mistaken belief of its owner that they are extremely smart and infallible. In worse cases it can emerge as an un-justified patronising and arrogant attitude.

It is interesting that people focus on the pros and cons of the degree qualification, seeing it as a 'thing', a piece of paper. Of course the certificate is an indicator of a standard and recognition of the effort and hard work. However a more helpful way of seeing it is if you think about the the pros and cons of going through the DEGREE PROCESS. The certificate itself is not going to get the job - you are, with your attitude, humility, diligence, enthusiasm, team working skills, problem solving skills, and self -management skills.

Nowadays a first degree is becoming simply the 'table stake' to be in the game. The opportunity to be employed not the 'right' to a job. In the UK system this takes the learner from 'level 4' learning to 'level 6'. Masters qualifications at 'level 7' are becoming differentiators, and no doubt Phds and DBA's will in the future at 'level 8'. The educational philosophy that underpins the transformation process can be checked out by looking at the work of Bloom and Perry and Mezirow


One down side to advancing your higher education is the need to become more specialised, and that can often lead to becoming part of a very tiny minority. There is also the danger that you lose your common touch, i.e. the ability to communicate thoughts and ideas effectively in approachable and understandable language, and to be concerned with matters that connect to the everyday. That's not to argue for dumbing down, or not exploring the fine semantics of say, epistemological philosophy. Just to say do it with your eyes wide open and realise that your 'subject' might not rock anyone elses boat.


Ultimately the process of a degree ought to be set in the context of your life overall. What role does it play in making your life happier and better? If you think its a passport (despite the stats) to a higher salary then think again. YOU earn the salary, roles and position not the piece of paper, albeit it helps with the 'first cut' For 3 years+ disadvantages are, deadline driven lifestyle, mentally challenging and demanding, and a continual exposure to the prospect of failure. Are you happy to put yourself in that space? If you do and you get through then that in itself is character building and worthy of merit.


My eldest son has taken a different path, bright lad indeed, not an 'academic' atom in his body (at the moment) He's just qualified as a junior electrician, he's got no student loan debt, he is learning other trades too, he's a great plasterer, kitchen fitter and OK plumber. Crucially he is happy!

For me higher education has been well, shall we say...an education. I feel my world view is broader, I feel I can discuss issues without feeling lost even if they aren't 'my subject' and I know it sounds corny, but as each new learning experience opens a door ( bit like The Matrix) you see hundreds of new doors beyond that one. This has taught me realise that the prospect of 'knowing all the answers' is a very remote prospect indeed, and to be very wary of people who claim they do.

For me that's what is really interesting is the question.. so what is it that causes a person to stop opening the doors? Think of the Managing Director who claims to 'know' his business, or the person who can't see a way out of the situation they are in. Curiosity is perhaps one of the most genetically/ memetically important aspects of the human being.

Generically I would suggest that having a degree indicates that you have developed a capacity to ask questions rather than regurgitate answers, you will also have at your disposal conceptual frameworks that can help you make sense of the world more readily than someone who doesn't, you will also have the ability to marshall and move ideas and information around. None of these things are excluded from someone who doesn't have a degree, its just that like my son he is a better and safer electrician than me because he is qualified. Would you claim to be a genetic engineer by looking at the mould in your fridge? , or perhaps claim some knowledge about quantum mechanics by looking at your savings balance :)

Finally I would invite you think in terms of University AND Life rather than anything mutually exclusive. I would see a bachelors degree as the start of the journey not the end. I would do it because you're interested and it feels right for you, not because you feel you ought, or you like wearing square hats and a cape, or you expect it to make you 'special'in the eyes of anyone else but your mum and dad.

And finally, if I was to offer what I feel (at this moment) is THE lesson to be gained from a university education it would be this:

The capability of moving from The Simplistic, through the Complex, to the Simplified is a capability that underpins, creativeness, innovation, leadership, and facilitation of understanding. This process has to be experienced to be understood.
RR - BA (Hons), MBA, pgce :)(see its what you thought about what I've written that matters and nothing to do with those letters after my name isn't it!)

Other posts relating to graduate entry to The University of Life can be found here:
Is a Degree Worth Anything in a Recession
Advantages of a Masters Degree
Shopping for a Degree?
Plagiarism is simply Cheating
How To Choose A British University

Will I earn more?
Lifetime Earning Value 2009 A degree is worth £100,000 in the UK