What Will 2012 Hold For Us?

I stand upon the threshold of my third year at the centre of the academic universe (okay, the University of Lincoln) and contemplate the state of the world outside the brick and concrete walls of academia.

Why bother? I hear some of you ask. Well it’s quite simple really. The state of the economy of this fair nation (the UK) is going to have a direct bearing on our (and I really mean my) ability to find work after we finish our courses. From where I’m sitting the future doesn’t look at all rosy.

Why?

1. The UK government is mired in debt. Successive governments have maxed out the state credit card and we suddenly find ourselves with the national equivalent of a nasty looking pair of guys at the front door looking to take away anything remotely valuable. It’s like a scene out of The Full Monty, except I don’t think the whole nation standing up in its collective underwear is going to scare them away.
2. We, as a nation, have very limited means of making money. We don’t really make much, our services sector is heavily dependent on banking (which is not exactly doing that well), we have few natural resources to exploit and we’re pretty limited when it comes to tourism.
3. Our educational system is a nightmare. The value of many of the academic awards appears to be bogus. My own experiences of dealing with university students doesn’t engender in me any respect for “A” Levels or GCSEs. My son’s current education, at a state secondary school (sorry, academy with a focus on the performing arts), fills me with dread. Especially when I look at the syllabuses for various GCSE courses.
4. Our costs, both as a nation and as individuals, are rising like rockets. Electricity, gas, petrol and diesel have all reached a price point where they have become real weights around our collective necks. I now dread the arrival of power bills and I’m sure that I’m not alone. If the cost of energy is so high here then that puts our nation’s ability to compete in the global markets in peril. It also puts off potential investors in the UK. Remember, business isn’t about sentimentality it’s about making money. 
5. The UK has become addicted to state interventions. Both in monetary terms and in social terms as well. If anything goes wrong then people seem to be obsessed with “what’s the government going to do about it?” Self-reliance seems to be as rare as rocking horse poo. That’s led us to a welfare state we cannot afford, hence the huge government borrowing, and a people who expect to be spoon fed from the cradle to the grave.

So what can we do? Unfortunately, not a lot. My considered opinion is that the UK is in the toilet and will remain there for some time. My advice is to start looking elsewhere. Beyond the rather stinky and turd laden shores of good old Blight. Look for those countries where they’re making money. China, Canada and Australia seem to be doing well at the moment. Africa could be the rising star of the 21^st Century. Perhaps Eastern Europe? You need to look into the options available to you and start thinking of not just what you want to do when you leave university but where you want to do it. I’m certain of only one thing at this time. The UK is going to be in intensive care for a long time to come. Can you afford to wait around?

I'm Back - First Year Students Beware...

After a prolonged period away I can announce that I'm back and full of vitriol. So what to begin with? How about Mike's Advice for first year university students?

Here it is....

1. Turn up to lectures and keep mouth shut and eyes and ears open. If your mates want to play around and make a nuisance of themselves then dump them.

2. Turn up to seminars and do the set tasks. Why bother even being at uni if you cannot be bothered to do the work? If you're only going for the lifestyle and the socialising then you're wasting your time.

(I'm about to start my 3rd year at Lincoln and can tell you that many students weren't exactly bothering to do either 1 or 2 for the first two years.)

3. Don't fall for the bull crap that your first year's marks don't count to your degree. They don't and they do. Why the paradox? Simples. The tutors are looking out for those who work hard and show a real interest in the subject. Spend the first year of your course tossing it off and guess what kind of impression it makes on the people who count (tutors/lecturers etc)? Come on, it doesn't take a genius to understand that.

4. Marks? Aim for a First in everything. Aim to be top dog at every subject. Why? Well in the words of one of my tutors:  "Anyone with less than a 2:1 has wasted the last three years." Guess what? He was right. You're going into a fantastically competitive world and you cannot have too high a mark in any subject. If that means abandoning friends, being focused and selfish with your own resources etc then you've just realised what the REAL world is like. Once you graduate everyone around you will be competing for the same kind of work. They're not your friends and peers, they are your competitors and they won't shed a tear for you when you end up serving Big Macs at the local Maccy D's.

5. Watch out for group work. While your Uni will tell you that there are mechanisms to deal with the freeloaders that group work nearly ALWAYS attracts those mechanisms aren't very effective. There are plenty of students who will let you do all the work while they reap the benefits of a good mark earned by you.

6. Watch out for the Mature Students (I'm one so be warned!). Why? Well it's quite simple. We are often more motivated, better focused and not obsessed with getting into everyone else's underwear. Yes, we are boring. Yes, we are older and probably appear to be ancient when compared to you. Yes, we care about our marks and how well we can translate them into career enhancing opportunities. But we also make damn good team managers for group work, usually have a better understanding of the tutors/lecturers and can draw on life experiences that you can only dream off. You can learn from the mature students. Watch them. Even get acquainted if you like. But also remember that a mature student, if they're remotely like me, will be looking to beat you. To get higher marks and to succeed in the job market. That means they won't tell you everything. They won't spoon feed you answers and make your life easier.

7. I wrote some material for our student newspaper (The Linc - check it out) and in one piece I compared the majority of my fellow students to pig swill. I still stand by that statement. I also compared a very few students to pearls. My advice to you is to be a pearl. A hard working, dedicated, focused individual. If that's not your attitude then I'd recommend you withdraw from university asap and save yourself a whole pile of cash and a wasted three years of your life.

An Eye Opener

During a conversation today I heard this comment "University is like a three year long 18-30 holiday. Drinking, sex and if you're lucky a bit of studying".

Initially, this shocked me but after a short period of reflection I was forced to agree. For many of my peer group it would appear that the social aspect of university life is of the highest importance. Studying is little more than an inconvenience.

This reminds me of the long lost past. When I was at secondary school and dinosaurs still roamed the length of the A10 Great Cambridge Road. We, the boys of my class at Kingsmead Secondary Modern, all lusted after one or more girls of our year. It was pretty much a struggle to remember what our own names were when we watched the girls run out in their cute pleated mini-skirted PE kits. Only frequent cold showers prevented many incidents of Spontaneous Human Combustion! School trips were opportunities to get “closer” to our female peers, usually with a uniform lack of success I might add! Much valuable learning time was lost to lust even in those dark days before the invention of sex and skin tight leggings!

So back to today and university where the hormones are raging, the booze flowing like Niagara Falls and drunken couplings so frequent that you could break you neck by slipping on the used condoms. Being a married chap, I feel quite able to stand above all this. But I must remember that my peer group haven't had the luxury of my own life experiences. They are, in most cases, 20 years younger than myself. Getting drunk, high and screwed is far more interesting than the complexities of media law or the Byzantine complexities of the EU parliament. Perhaps I need to step back just a bit and let them have their fun. Ignore the interminable tales of sexual conquests, super hot vindaloo consumption and group vomiting. They're young and should enjoy themselves.

Why should I be so uncharacteristically charitable? Because while the rest of the student body are wasting their time on immediate gratification of their basest desires I can get on, earn the best marks I can and (hopefully) steal a march on getting a well paid position upon (or before) graduation! I suspect that many of my peer group may still be drunk, high and diseased come graduation day, 2012.

2nd Year Cometh

The over long summer break is nearly over and the new academic year beckons. In a few weeks time I will re-enrol for my second year as an undergraduate studying Advertising and Journalism. I look forward to it with great enthusiasm. There's so much more to learn. I also hope that those students from my first year who had little or no enthusiasm for the course will have left for pastures new.

But before that I will be attending university on the 21st of September. Why? Because I volunteered to be a Study Buddy. To assist the newcomers to university life. I just hope that the new students aren't only after advice concerning nightclubs, socialising and how to cook a pot noodle.

As is my habit, I have been thinking about what I need to say to the young people who'll be placed into my care. To that end I spent sometime considering the entries I made in my personal journal during my own first few weeks at university. The basic advice boils down to the following....

1. Attend every lecture. Keep your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open.

2. Attend every seminar. Do the pre-seminar work and be ready to answer questions and take part in any discussion.

3. Get organised. You have to take responsibility for your own learning and the management of your time.

4. Read the unit handbooks thoroughly. Make sure you know what you need to do in the way of assignments and tests AND when they're due.

All very simple and straightforward but then so is common sense, which in my opinion is very rare commodity.

Some of the incidents of my first year came back to me during this exercise. There was the young woman who declared that "I hate writing", quite amusing considering that she was on the Journalism course. Another young lady asked me what we'd been doing in the Introduction to Advertising unit. Why? Because she'd neglected to attend a single lecture or seminar, for that unit, for about two months. The wonderful people who felt it quite acceptable to sit at the back of lectures and hold conversations on their mobile phones or with their friends. Sometimes the noise was almost enough to drown out the voice of the lecturer! I also remember the 09:00 lecture the morning after the Carnage event. In a lecture theatre capable of holding a couple of hundred people we had about 15 people including the lecturer.

I hope that this years intake of young blood truly values the investment they are making in their futures. That they have a real thirst to learn and the drive to make something of themselves.

The Mature Student's Survival Guide - Progress So Far

Well I've been very lucky in getting a number of responses to my appeal for help in compiling what I'm calling "The Mature Student's Survival Guide". But I need to spread my net wider. I need to get comments and experiences from mature students who haven't attended the University of Lincoln. The danger is that my own experiences, and those of other Lincoln students, may not be repeated at other UK universities.

As part of my trawl for information I have been fortunate to meet some of the members of the MAPS group at the University of Lincoln. It's a group of mature and post-graduate students who meet at the Atrium on a Wednesday lunchtime. They were a delight to meet. Interesting people studying interesting subjects. One guy is working on robotics, another working on an MA (I hope that's right) thesis concerning an early 20th Century right-wing politician and another who's working on visual scanning systems for sorting potatoes. An eclectic mix to say the least. But they all seemed far more interesting to talk too than many of my own peer group.

First Year Results Day

For the last few weeks I've been getting rather jittery about my university exam results and the results from some of my outstanding assignments. The exams were the first time in more than two decades that I had to take part in conventional handwritten examinations. Sitting in a large room, scribbling my heart out using pen and paper. It reminded me of my 'O' Level examinations that I took all those years ago back at Kingsmead Secondary Modern. Sweaty teenagers scribbling out answers in a large room full of silence and raging hormones.

I was more than nervous concerning the results. The uncertainty made the wait doubly nerve-racking. Most of the professional examinations I've taken have been computerised and the score provided in a matter of seconds. Here I was waiting for weeks. I'm surprised I had any nails left to bite.

So last night I cuddled up to my laptop and prayed to the God of Cottage Cheese (with pineapple chunks, of course) and waited for the 1st Year results to be posted. About midnight the information appeared on Blackboard and with some trepidation I clicked on the PDF link for my score.....

I was more than relieved to see that I had passed my 1st Year and was being allowed to proceed to the 2nd Year of the course. If I had failed it would have been a disaster. Especially as I make no secret of the fact that I think many of my fellow students couldn't care less about their studies. I pride myself on putting in as much effort as I can and aiming for the highest marks available. It doesn't make sense to me to put myself through university in the hope of a 2:2. I'm aiming for a First for every assignment and exam. Any time I don't get a First I feel that I've got to work harder and drive myself to improve. Hell, isn't that meant to be one of the core reasons to be at university in the first place?

So now I can prepare myself for the next year, polish my pens and dust off the dictionaries. Now I know what's expected from me I feel that I can "up" my game and go on to better things. Roll on September! I'm ready.

First Year Over

Firstly, I'd like to announce that I'm going ahead with my plans to create a FAQ/e-Book about the experiences of mature students. Not the everyday mundane type of experiences, e.g. how to write essays or prepare for exams. No. I'm referring to the more complex situations that a mature student may well get caught up in. Such situations as having to work in a team composed of unmotivated and lazy individuals. How to deal with the feelings of isolation. Incidents of bullying or harassment. As a mature student you are very much the fish out of water. The academic work is easy compared with trying to strike up working relationships with other students who may well be 20 years younger than yourself.

So if you're interested in sharing your experiences please contact me via my email address, below. Confidentiality guaranteed to those who wish it.

Email:  mike@mike-hodges.com

Moving on.

I'm looking to earn some money over the summer and, if I'm lucky, get some relevant experience into the bargain as well. So far my search for temporary employment has not been successful but you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find that prince.

In the North Lincolnshire area there does appear to be a dearth of temporary employment opportunities. Many of the employment agency websites have had few, if any, jobs of any kind. The government jobs website has been useful. Which I find surprising. The range of opportunities runs from a post in Doncaster that fits in with the marketing/advertising side of my course to gutting and jointing animals in a food processing factory. I'll take whatever I can get as long as I get paid for my work. That leads to the subject of internships.

Internships, as if you didn't know, are meant to be a great way for people to get that all important work experience to enhance career prospects and bank accounts. So far all the internships I've considered have either been unpaid or "expenses only". Great if you have a large pile of cash to hand to keep you going but not suitable for a family man who needs to pay the bills. As a consequence I've dropped the idea of an internship. I cannot afford to work for nothing and I am sure that I am not alone in that respect.

With the end of my exams, last week, I am now left waiting for the results of my efforts over the last academic year. We, as mere first years, will receive our results last. July the 7th to be precise. It makes sense when you realise that the marks we gain in our first year do not count towards our final mark.

The examinations that I took part in were very interesting for me. For a start it was the first time that I had taken a handwritten exam since leaving secondary school. That's more than 20 years ago. I was so concerned that I even spent time practising my handwriting. Yes, a schooly swot I am. Comes from a life long love of learning. But the most interesting aspect of the exams was the veritable exodus that took place.

Each of the three exams had the same rules and processes. We were not allowed to leave during the first 30 minutes or the last 30 minutes. I was shocked that in each exam as soon as the first 30 minutes had expired there was a steady stream of people leaving the exam hall. That includes the three hour Media Law exam. There is no way anyone could have finished that exam in just 30 minutes. Yet I witnessed a flood of people leaving. Long ago, in the lost mists of time, I had the following beaten into. During an exam you work as hard as you can, you read the questions and instructions carefully and if you finish early you go over your work to fix any errors. What I saw left me dumbfounded. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Afterward, I spoke to some other students and got clued into what had really happened. Many of my peer group, so I was advised, had no intention of actually passing the exam at all. They merely wished to attend the exam, fill in all the appropriate paperwork, maybe attempt a couple of questions and then leave. All this so they can resit the exam in August. It turns out that if a student isn't present for the exam they're unable to take the resit.

Unbelievable. Yet a conversation with an ex-student confirmed that this was very common in her day as well.

As I previously mentioned, I won't find out if I've passed the first year of my course until July 7th. I do know that I gave it my best shot. My personal viewpoint is that I'd rather go down fighting than just give up.

A Brave New World

Becoming a student is all about preparing for the future. When you choose your course and university you should also consider what shape the world will be in three or five years time.

It pays to look into a crystal ball and try and make some educated guesses about what the future might hold.

In the spirit of Mystic Meg these are my predictions for the future.

1. China and India will continue their rise to global dominance, leaving the old Western nations to wane into economic obscurity. While English might remain a global business language it might make sense to become at least familiar with a Chinese language and an Indian language.

2. With the economic rise of China and India, and our desperate need as a country to compete with them, we must face up to the prospect of falling standards of living. I expect average salaries to fall over the next five to ten years and that money for “fun” discretionary use will evaporate.

3. UK property prices will crash in value. UK property prices are still massively overvalued. Nothing will change until the disparity between average earnings and average house prices is eliminated. Combine that with my prediction that average salaries will fall and you have a recipe for declining property values over the long term. I do not expect UK property prices to return to the heady days of 2007 ever.

4. The UK economy has been underpinned by a huge number of jobs that are either directly or indirectly paid for by the state. These jobs have been paid for through government debt. The poor state of the UK government’s finances means that this cannot continue. The result will be a massive rise in unemployment. Jobs in the state sector, or dependent on the state sector, will be rare and subject to massive competitive forces.

5. The UK government needs to pay off debt and reduce its costs. So look out for rising taxation and benefit cuts. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) will also suffer cuts. Regional Development Agencies, like Yorkshire Forward, will face staff cuts and even the threat of closure.

6. Charities will rise in power. They will replace the old NGOs and use unpaid volunteers instead of well-paid, perhaps overpaid, staff. Charities will also take advantage of the internships system. Bringing in students for specific projects at little or no cost to the charities.

7. New scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs will be made mainly outside of the waning Western nations. This being due to a lack of enthusiasm when it comes to supporting, developing and investing in such developments.

8. Energy costs will continue to rise and curtail the average person’s ability to travel, whether for work or recreation. The age of the long distance commuter may well be coming to an end except for the highest paid workers.

9. The brain/talent drain will continue and gather momentum. The smartest and best qualified will find it easier to emigrate to countries with brighter futures. Those left behind will be abandoned to their fates.

10. Finally, the Internet’s age of “Free” will come to an end. Content is costly to produce and someone is going to have to pay for it. The proposed paywall for The Times is only the start of what will eventually become the norm. If you want to be informed, entertained or educated you’re going to have to pay.

These are just my pet predictions. I don’t claim any clairvoyant powers and as such they are little more than educated guesses. But it is worth thinking about how these predictions could affect your future and your post graduation plans.

And To Continue

This Blog was created as part of this years Journalism Skills unit (University of Lincoln BA(Hons) course). As such it is part of my marked work for the year.

BUT...

I am continuing with this Blog as I find that writing about my experiences as a mature student helps me to make sense of the academic environment that I now inhabit.

Today I had my last seminar of the year. Well worth attending as we received some excellent tips and advice for our last assignment. Only four people turned up but I'm now getting used to the idea that most of my peer group don't turn up to a lecture or  seminar unless they consider it absolutely necessary.

I have recently received an email from one of the academic staff in the Lincoln School of Journalism appealing for students returning for their second or third years to work as "study buddies". To mentor and advise the new intake of students next September. I must admit that I'm very tempted. I remember clearly what it was like during my first few weeks at university. If I hadn't been briefed by my wife, and others, concerning the attitude of the students towards a mature student then I might have taken some of their behaviour personally.

Perhaps what I need to do is create a FAQ/Briefing document for mature students? A crib sheet that can aid the mature student to navigate the Byzantine world of drunken parties, negative attitudes and half empty lecture theatres. Why do this? Well I know of at least one example of cyber bullying that has occurred at Lincoln. It was targeted at a mature student. Why? Because that person wanted to learn, to contribute in seminars and to squeeze the maximum value from their course. A small group of "younger" students didn't like that and so Internet based unpleasantness followed. As far as I know this situation has been remedied, the university authorities were involved and took action, but for it to occur in the first place is very concerning. 

If another mature student were targeted like this then it might make all the difference if they have someone to turn to or a crib sheet with tips on what to do. Being a mature student can be a lonely experience, especially for those who might expect a warmer welcome to academia.

The Easter Holiday

It's the Easter Holiday and there are only a few months of the academic year left. It's time to review the year so far and think long and hard about what I've learnt and how I will put it to use.

From a purely personal point of view I have made a few friends and acquaintances from amongst the student body. I'm reminded of my first week at Lincoln. Frequently we were told that the friends we made at University would be with us for the rest of our lives, or words to that effect. From the perspective of a mature student this was obviously not going to be the case. It was apparent from the first day that I was about as popular as a pork chop at a bar mitzvah. I was lucky in that I had been prepared for this unwelcoming reception.

Another observation was that there was little in the way of a culture of learning amongst my peer group. Foolishly, I expected that my fellow students would be keen to learn and to explore the rich academic world on offer. The actual situation was that the majority of students acted as if they were being forced to learn. Coerced to attend lectures and seminars. Enthusiasm was very much in short supply.

The actual teaching has been, for the most part, excellent. My only complaint is that there needs to be a stricter approach to the students. If they don't turn up, don't do the expected pre-seminar work or contribute then they should be penalised for their lack of effort. Effort is the keyword here. I'd rather see people try and fail than not even try in the first place. The other comment I'd make about the teaching side of things is that sometimes the feedback could be more detailed. On a couple of occasions I haven't even been able to read the feedback comments due to illegible handwriting. Perhaps the university could drop the archaic hand written forms and go over to typed responses?

The facilities offered by the university have, so far, met my needs adequately. The Library does seem to be dominated by people fiddling (Facebook/Habbo etc) on computers rather than working, or dare I say it, seeking and reading books. The newsrooms in the MHT building are well stocked with PCs, telephone lines for our use and suitable printers. Suitable locations for team meetings abound. The refreshment facilities are acceptable. Not exactly designed to stimulate the taste buds of a gourmand but the food is edible and reasonably priced.

Car parking is a problem but, thanks to the Lincoln Big parking scheme, I'm able to park in Lincoln for the low price of £50 a month. It also offers me greater flexibility over when I can attend university.

So what have I learnt since September 2009?

• A better understanding of the principles of marketing. Useful in my own business activities going forward.
• I have acquired an improved knowledge of the advertising world, its workings and structure. Everything from the power of semiotics to measures of advertising effectiveness. I also find myself now automatically breaking the elements of advertising down to analyse the techniques used.
• Media Law and Public Administration have opened my eyes to how our nation is run and how it's reported to the masses. The threats to our basic freedoms and how important the media is in the eternal battle between the political classes on one side and the people on the other side.
• On a more prosaic subject, statistics in the business world, I've had a thorough refresher course in statistics and data analysis.
• The Journalism Skills unit, the actual nuts and bolts of journalism, has sharpened my writing skills and brought into sharper focus the actual processes involved in the production of the global news feed.

In my opinion this year has been a beneficial experience. Now I must continue to revise for my upcoming exams and prepare for my second year.