EBME Forums Forums Management Training Eastwood Park/Kingston degree

Can anyone please tell me the given reasons why the degree programme is being discontinued. Was there some rift between the two?

Is that so, San (I hadn't heard)?

Let's hope someone can come on here ASAP and explain the situation ... and offer some clues about "where do we go from here"?

Who knows, maybe even one of the VRCT supporters can offer some words of comfort?

Meanwhile, for what it's worth (not much), my own comment would be that this is the sort of thing we can expect when Private Companies attempt to carry out functions best left to government institutions.

To sum up in two words:- Modern Britain.

How strange, before I had retired a couple of years ago, this was being trumpeted as the way forward. NHS managers were becoming excited with the prospect of hiring new staff (on a low A4C banding) and receiving sponsorship monies to support the training of new technicians. I presume (and sincerely would expect) that the existing technicians embarking on this form of study are being allowed to complete their education. Having spent several years in (modern) adult vocational technical education in the past, I must confess that I am not completely surprised. It remains a sad fact that the old proven systems have now been disbanded (yes, the ones that produced the journeyman technician) and if these new 'foundation degrees' or whatever they are now being called are no longer available then one has to wonder what does exist? Or more to the point does anyone in authority care?

No, they don't care.

They don't think "long term", do they? Only Statesmen do that - and no-one comes to mind amidst the current crop of "leaders" whom I would apply that title to.

But don't worry, whenever skilled people are needed, they shall be "imported" from overseas as usual.

They're cheaper that way, apparently.

Not sure but could this possibly be about the shake up in education and nothing to do with VRCT (for once) or anything currently discussed on this forum.

I remember reading two news articles recently that basically said stuck with the prospect of technically paying a graduate tax (student loans you never payback, a rose by any other name) more students were favouring honours degrees over foundation degrees. The second was that faced with the new fees, less students were going to university and thus with less student numbers, more of the less popular programs were closing.

It may be that unfortunately the Eastwood Park degree just wasn't getting the necessary student numbers?

OK, here's my take:- a certain well-known company is expanding its training offerings again (as has been "evidenced" by the banner advert that has been appearing recently on the home page of this website).

It's no secret that senior staff at that company have been heavily involved with not only the Foundation degree, but with other courses at Eastwood Park as well.

So maybe there are some clues right there. But let's wait to hear about developments straight from the horse's mouth, as it were. Rob?

Meanwhile, does anyone have current information about what (if any) courses remain available for the keen young chap entering the biomed field in the UK these days?

Does the Basic Biomed Course still run at Falfield, for example?

And what about degree level biomed engineering courses? Do any still exist?

To my mind, all this does impact upon the VRCT debate, Chris. If academic routes into the "profession" are few and far between, and/or change from year to year, then what sort of profession is that?

Certainly causes problems but I wouldn't be surprised if Kingston had a hand in this. From what I see it's not just medical electronics that is effected, many other courses have been scrapped since colleges and universities can't afford these days to specialise on all but their most popular courses.

If you wanted to learn a language or take a camera course for example you'll find it's now cheaper to use a private provider.

Just for information, a foundation degree is based at the same academic level as the old HNC/HND, it is not a degree in the once accepted understanding of the word. (There again what is in education, I was involved with the NVQ implementation, what a farce.) Employers and journeymen educators soon realised that NVQ stood for Not Very Qualified. Now we have foundation degrees. What a farce, if successive governments did not devalue older academic education standards they would not need to invent new meaningless qualifications.
However, this specialisation in education is in my view the main problem. Give me a man or woman with a good general education and broad understanding of say engineering and on employment they will then specialise in their chosen career.

No doubt many will remember that in the "old days" out in Saudi Arabia (then, as now, predominately following American ways and means) our HNC's were deemed to equate to Associate Degrees (whatever they were).

But I was informed by my old office in Riyadh a few years ago that the "requirements" of the MOH for the kind of jobs that I used to do was (is) now a Masters degree or higher (eh?). A farce, yes; but not just in the UK, it would seem.

Or perhaps that could be read another way:- whilst standards are being raised in other parts of the world, here in the UK the Great Dumbing Down continues (everyone gets a prize, remember).

Meanwhile Barney, that man or woman you seek are generally found passing through Dover in the backs of lorries (that's trucks, for our non-English readers). They can be delivered (ready to go) directly to your door, should you so wish.

Yes.