The quality of Irish Universities

recylingbin · 17-09-2010 07:43PM

Where's DIT?

Jev/N · 17-09-2010 07:44PM

MultiUmm wrote: »

How does the system involved with judging them and giving them ranks work?

This was already answered AFAIK and it says it in the OP's link.

Anyway, it's to do with:

Teaching — the learning environment

30% of overall score.
#
International mix — staff and students

5% of overall score.
#
Industry income — innovation

2.5% of overall score.
#
Research — volume, income and reputation

30% of overall score.
#
Citations — research influence

32.5% of overall score.

MultiUmm · 17-09-2010 07:50PM

Jev/N wrote: »

This was already answered AFAIK and it says it in the OP's link.

Anyway, it's to do with:

Thanks, think I missed that. Browsing boards while sick and tired leads to missing a lot of things.

4zn76tysfajdxp · 17-09-2010 07:55PM

recylingbin wrote: »

Where's DIT?

Dublin.

Killer Pigeon · 17-09-2010 08:06PM

pickarooney wrote: »

I've noticed that the United States does quite well in these rankings, for a nation of idiots.

(do I need to put something in brackets here?)

Nah, Americans are just good at advertising. Many of the graduate students in American universities aren't even American at all.

Killer Pigeon · 17-09-2010 08:08PM

southsiderosie wrote: »

Because they generally have the most money and attract the best research faculty. US universities in particular poach everyone else's top faculty & researchers (although this is changing a bit). And most of the top journals are published in English.

Over the next several decades, I think a lot of European universities are going to start getting squeezed out of higher ranking slots by Asian universities, both due to lavish funding and high levels of technical research output.

I'm actually quite happy to see those Asian and European universities rising up. To be fair, they haven't had much attention.

steddyeddy · 18-09-2010 12:14AM

Mark200 wrote: »

There's absolutely no difference, in terms of standard, between a BA and a BSc

yes im aware of this however the fact that some universities refer to a degree in maths say, as a bachelor of arts is a bit ridiculous. Tcd have a excellent science record however I know from my time in the states that a ba in science wasnt seen on a par with a bsc even though the content was the same!

steddyeddy · 18-09-2010 12:19AM

pickarooney wrote: »

I've noticed that the United States does quite well in these rankings, for a nation of idiots.

(do I need to put something in brackets here?)

Having studied there I can say that the people I studied there with were anything but idiots, in my field anyway. I can only speak for my area of work (zoology) but america certainly leads the way in many scientific fields.

steddyeddy · 18-09-2010 12:21AM

Fringe wrote: »

So do Cambridge and Oxford.

yes it seems to be the anglicised way of labeling science

Killer Pigeon · 18-09-2010 12:21AM

steddyeddy wrote: »

yes im aware of this however the fact that some universities refer to a degree in maths say, as a bachelor of arts is a bit ridiculous. Tcd have a excellent science record however I know from my time in the states that a ba in science wasnt seen on a par with a bsc even though the content was the same!

To be fair, the Irish classification is different to the American classification. Trinity offers a BA for science degrees because of historical reasons, Oxford and Cambridge do the same I think. It derives from the olden days when such things as, for example, physics wasn't seen as science, rather an art (it used to be known as natural philosophy). UCD offers a BSc mainly because it is a newer university than TCD (UCD was founded in the 1850's), and adapted a more modern form of classification. It's only tradition and has nothing to do with the level of difficulty of the degree. A BSc from UCD would be on par (in terms of academic rigour) with a BA (in science) from Trinity.
Nevertheless, in my biased opinion a "Bachelor of Science" has a nice ring to it in comparison to a "bachelor of Arts". Only saying this 'cause I go to UCD, I'd probably say differently if I went to TCD.

W.Shakes-Beer · 18-09-2010 12:28AM

Gabriela Most Stampede wrote: »

Dublin.

I enjoy your posts more because of the picture of that troll grinning git in your avatar

steddyeddy · 18-09-2010 12:30AM

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

To be fair, the Irish classification is different to the American classification. Trinity offers a BA for science degrees because of historical reasons, Oxford and Cambridge do the same I think. It derives from the olden days when such things as, for example, physics wasn't seen as science, rather an art (it used to be known as natural philosophy). UCD offers a BSc mainly because it is a newer university than TCD (UCD was founded in the 1850's), and adapted a more modern form of classification. It's only tradition and has nothing to do with the level of difficulty of the degree. A BSc from UCD would be on par with a BA (in science) from Trinity.

yes I agree, the course content is no different, the historical reasons aside I think that they should move on.

Yes the american system is different I tend to confuse people here (im not american by the way but irish who went to study there) when they ask wheter I have a bsc or ba in zoology.

the american unis offer a lot more in the way of access courses as a way for people who may be from disadvantaged backgrounds to get into a area of study. my problem with the irish system is the leaving cert plays to much of a roll in deciding who gets educated.

Killer Pigeon · 18-09-2010 12:30AM

steddyeddy wrote: »

america certainly leads the way in many scientific fields.

Europe is probably better for physics (especially for high energy particle physics, e.g. CERN) but America would probably be better at engineering (NASA).

steddyeddy · 18-09-2010 12:31AM

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

Nah, Americans are just good at advertising. Many of the graduate students in American universities aren't even American at all.

Im exhibit A!

Killer Pigeon · 18-09-2010 12:39AM

steddyeddy wrote: »

the american unis offer a lot more in the way of access courses as a way for people who may be from disadvantaged backgrounds to get into a area of study. my problem with the irish system is the leaving cert plays to much of a roll in deciding who gets educated.

I agree totally. However, the American higher education system seems very biased. Very little people from poorer backgrounds go on to university.

I think university access for people in disadvantaged areas is becoming easier nowadays in Ireland. HEAR points were introduced a while back to give students from disadvantaged backgrounds extra points in the LC.

I think there is too much emphasis put on the LC though (I mean if you think about it, 1 or 2 weeks of exams might determine the rest of your life).

steddyeddy · 18-09-2010 01:10AM

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

Europe is probably better for physics (especially for high energy particle physics, e.g. CERN) but America would probably be better at engineering (NASA).

America leads the way for zoology in my opinion I hate the cambridge oxford aproach

steddyeddy · 18-09-2010 01:15AM

Killer Pigeon wrote: »

I agree totally. However, the American higher education system seems very biased. Very little people from poorer backgrounds go on to university.

I think university access for people in disadvantaged areas is becoming easier nowadays in Ireland. HEAR points were introduced a while back to give students from disadvantaged backgrounds extra points in the LC.

I think there is too much emphasis put on the LC though (I mean if you think about it, 1 or 2 weeks of exams might determine the rest of your life).

It was indeed quite biased but they introduced the access courses to combat this. Ireland is indeed doing well in this area and im glad it is, the current educated in ireland are also mostly from families with above average wealth not the most intelligent or affective in their chosen area

The quality of Irish Universities

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