Educated Nation has a post up about employment opportunities for college [university] graduates in the US. According to the report, graduates have higher salaries, less unemployment and their salaries are rising faster than workers who do not have degrees.
Some of the top ranking jobs in terms of pay are Physicians and Surgeons, Chief Executives, Dentists, Airline Pilots/copilots/flight engineers and air traffic controllers.
All of those occupations earn a median salary of over $100,000 per annum.
Some art and writing occupations pay less than half as much. For example, Editors have a median salary of $43,890 and 84% have bachelor's degrees or higher. For writers and authors, it is $44,350 with 83% graduates.
The continuing privileging of medical, technological and high-level managers over the humanities is probably one of the factors behind the current poor state of the humanities in universities. Universities, after all, reflect the societies in which they are situated. Today at the University of Melbourne, there was a small protest of perhaps 15 students sitting down and talking about the cuts to the Faculty of Arts. The administration building was locked down, with at least one security guard at the doorway, allowing approved people to enter and leave, another three security guards on the stairway and balcony and another 5 security guards on the ground. The protester:security guard ratio is quickly approaching 1:1. This shows that either the protesters do not have popular support or that having a second action within about a week of the first is not a good idea.
But in other news, the latest Honi Soit features stories on the continuing problems with the Academic Appeals changes as well as the results of the elections for Union Board. Big surprise, the Liberal finished last and was therefore the only one not elected. Voter turnout was low, at only 2190 (33 informal).
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Employment stats
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Academic Appeals, Plagiarism and Closing Ranks
The latest edition of Honi Soit (23/4/08) describes a few interesting controversies over at the University of Sydney. The censorship controversy is still going, just like the University of Melbourne Student Union's censorship controversy regarding Farrago publishing discriminatory content. But more interesting tales are unfolding as well.
According to the President's Report, the University of Sydney is closing ranks around the Dean of the Conservatorium of Music who repetitively suspected of plagiarism. It is, after all, bad press for a Sandstone to have a Dean involved in a plagiarism scandal. But, if they had their wits about them, they would realise that it is even worse press for a Sandstone to be protecting a plagiariser. Sometimes Sandstones don't behave as intelligently as one would expect.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports: "THE head of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music has written lecture notes for audiences at a series of talks at the Art Gallery of NSW that contain phrases and sentences identical to those contained in a treatise by two Pulitzer Prize-winning United States historians.The material comes to light just six months after Kim Walker was reinstated as dean of the conservatorium after being stood down while allegations of plagiarism were investigated."
Both the University of Sydney Students' Representative Council and the Sydney University Postgraduate Representative Association are fuming over being sidelined at Academic Board regarding Academic Appeals. New policies were passed that reduced the ability of students to solve problems informally as well as giving students less time to lodge appeals. SRC and SUPRA representatives worked with university bureaucrats to amend the policies, but their amendments were voted down and their university support evaporated.
SUPRA's concerns run along the same line as the SRC's. "What killed [Academic Board] was the new draconian, mean, inappropriate and short-sighted Academic Appeals Policy that was introduced. This policy is so poor that it is now one of the most anti-student policies in the country. The Academic Board approved this policy when both SUPRA, the SRC and other student members of the Academic Board were opposed to it."
University of Sydney student representatives have their work cut out for them. I just hope that the paths of UoM and USyd don't follow each other too closely. Student newspaper problems are bad, but anti-student policy is worse.
