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SURE programme Q

  • 23-01-2006 2:16pm
    #1
    whyamihere?
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26 ✭


    Whats the story with the requirement that 50% of SURE researchers have to come from outside TCD and 50% from inside TCD? Is this a requirement set by the government and happens in all colleges etc? Or is it just TCD?

    I dont understand it, those with the best abilities should get the places (there is a very limited number) regardless of where theyre from. This ethos is the cornerstone of US university research and is one of the main reasons that the US is the world leader in academic research. There are laws in the US preventing universities from doing something like this. Why is it happening in Ireland?


Comments

  • #2
    ApeXaviour
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,523 ✭✭✭ApeXaviour


    whyamihere? wrote:
    Whats the story with the requirement that 50% of SURE researchers have to come from outside TCD and 50% from inside TCD? Is this a requirement set by the government and happens in all colleges etc? Or is it just TCD?
    This is a reason I and many of my friends did not get a SURE internship last year. It's because of the SFI funding they recieve and as such can not be seen to be exclusive to tcd students. So I'm bitter yes but I can see the logic behind it.

    whyamihere? wrote:
    I dont understand it, those with the best abilities should get the places (there is a very limited number) regardless of where theyre from. This ethos is the cornerstone of US university research and is one of the main reasons that the US is the world leader in academic research. There are laws in the US preventing universities from doing something like this. Why is it happening in Ireland?
    If left to their own devices I'd bet that the researchers would "weigh" a 2.2 mark from a trinity student a lot more favourably than a 2.1 from some other colleges (I'd rather not name them specifically) and rightly so in some cases. So you have a catch 22 situation. Do you weigh it on unbenchmarked academic scores that fundamentally don't compare (thus having ridiculously few trinity students)? Or do you let the researchers weigh it themselves? Being aware that this is extremely subjective at best and hence open to a lot of bias. I suppose a costly buerocracy could go around benchmarking non-degree undergraduate results. Which won't happen, it's only a summer job. So we have this method, which is simple and relatively fair.

    Don't overestimate the importance of SURE, especially if you're going to end up doing a final year research project anyway. Though useful, it really doesn't matter that much.


  • #3
    Boston
    Closed Accounts Posts: 17,163 ✭✭✭✭Boston


    Is it a good thing to go for then?


  • #4
    John
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,135 ✭✭✭✭John


    LiouVille wrote:
    Is it a good thing to go for then?

    I thought so. I'm finding doing my project this year a lot easier because of it. It's little things like time management, learning to keep proper records and writing a real lab report that made it even more useful. Of course the skills you learn could come in handy if you use them in your project, I'm not but having done the various protocols once and also doing the ones I'm doing now means I have a better chance of getting into a lab I'd like to work in.


  • #5
    ApeXaviour
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,523 ✭✭✭ApeXaviour


    LiouVille wrote:
    Is it a good thing to go for then?
    I agree with John it's entirely worth going for. That's why I went for it. I heard nothing but good reports off friends who did it. Though by no means essential, it's a damn sight better than working in a shop/garage/restaurant or something over the summer.

    I won't be applying this year though. Numerous reasons.


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