[Brighton] Turmoil at the University of Brighton

[surrey jim]

Unfortunately Lewes road property isn’t worth a lot .

My children are at St Martins primary school just off Melbourne street, The Enterprise point building there is being demolished and a student block built in its place. The developers did an open day at school to show parents the designs and how works wouldn't impact the children etc. I asked the person running it about rental cost and was told that for a basic room which [in my view] was equivalent to a Travelodge , would be £350 a week!!. Apparently they cant build student accommodation fast enough, the student flats on Gyratory, the old Lectern pub and the student block on old recycling site are all at capacity.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

It is indeed. They've already had extra restrictions placed on them which means they can't operate most Sundays. Mainly due to a Nimby 'doctor' not a medical one and some old bat with who's mad. Apparently they have the full support of DC ( who happens to have a very nice house up that same road ) and is happy to rent them the land from his farm. Just typical LDC and country bumpkin issue.

Any relation to John Catt, Withdean, by any chance?

 

[Hugo Rune]

The painful journey from 90’s Poly, completely funded by the government to 21st Alliance Group University where the vast majority of income (for a Uni not really centred on research) comes from Student fees. Whilst energy costs for the institution have risen from £3m to £11m, tuition fees remain locked due to political paralysis. It’s not just energy, it’s costs across the board the University are struggling with. But unlike a private company, they can’t affect their income by raising the cost of their service in line with say, inflation.

The solution; get rid of courses that attract less than a handful of students (typically school of humanities courses teaching what would be regarded by many as Woke courses) and invest in courses from schools like Sport and Health Sciences that have popular, money making well regarded courses. Invest in suitable facilities (such as the Virgin Active centre) and flog off all the old buildings that are costing a fortune to maintain.

Lots of similar institutions to Brighton University are struggling too but the mismanagement in not gradually culling the poor performance courses over the years has come back to bite the management. I suspect they’ll be resignations once the process is over.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

The University got £4.5m for selling its playing fields. Who knows how much for the Hastings campus? Or the value of the Eastbourne campus? All of these were gifted to the University's predecessors for nominal amounts.
Of course, the previous Director of Finance stole £2.4m over 30 years, but it can't all be his fault? If it's the fault of the current lot, then it's grossly unfair to target the lecturers and other staff.

The terms of the deal it's done with the builders of all the new student housing seems opaque but if they're anything like most PFI deals, the University will get shafted.

Hall, was described as a person of good character apart from this error of judgment (excusing the fact it was over 30 years!)

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

The painful journey from 90’s Poly, completely funded by the government to 21st Alliance Group University where the vast majority of income (for a Uni not really centred on research) comes from Student fees. Whilst energy costs for the institution have risen from £3m to £11m, tuition fees remain locked due to political paralysis. It’s not just energy, it’s costs across the board the University are struggling with. But unlike a private company, they can’t affect their income by raising the cost of their service in line with say, inflation.

The solution; get rid of courses that attract less than a handful of students (typically school of humanities courses teaching what would be regarded by many as Woke courses) and invest in courses from schools like Sport and Health Sciences that have popular, money making well regarded courses. Invest in suitable facilities (such as the Virgin Active centre) and flog off all the old buildings that are costing a fortune to maintain.

Lots of similar institutions to Brighton University are struggling too but the mismanagement in not gradually culling the poor performance courses over the years has come back to bite the management. I suspect they’ll be resignations once the process is over.

Great summation. I totally agree with the sentiment. It is a massive shame that painful decisions were not taken earlier in a more staggered manner. No-one should have their course or their speciality taken away whilst they are studying, I believe it is in everyone's interests to honour thse who are part-way through.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Agree with all comments so far, the closure of arts buildings is criminal. Unis are far more than just a place to learn.

One point on the new buildings though, the funding for the shiny new halls of residence 100% came from the private sector. Niche developers have been doing this for years across the UK, they make their profit on accommodation charges or similar. This was confirmed in a recent TV interview with the VC. Staff aren't losing their jobs due to that particular capital expenditure, it's the overall financial incompetence of the bosses running the uni.

In Canterbury there has been masses of new building - halls of residence. I smell a tory cash cow on a par with residential care homes. At my uni in London there is a prime piece of real estate demolished and new-built as halls. Does my uni own these new halls? Nope.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

It's not profitable for the establishment to have a well educated population. They've been doing their best to kill it off for the riff raff for well over a decade now.

That is actually untrue. Economies work better with a better educated workforce. Otherwise we would not bother educating people at all. Our country is a strange dichotomous beast which whilst modern in many ways, still hearkens back to tradition in ways that can only be described as self-harming - that is one reason why the divisions between those that have and those that don't are more apparent than many other first world countries.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I'm glad his course seems unaffected. The process of deciding who stays/goes seems opaque and doesnt consider equality issues. Who knows how courses will be affected as lecturers will be leaving over the summer. Many of the lecturers affected do a lot of research, yet the university management are also reviewing all the research centres. It seems to want to go back to being a poly, teaching only.

From what I have seen of 'new' (built from the mid 50s onwards) universities and former polys (a good pal is a head of department at one) and from my 40 year 'career' in academic research, there is no chance of obtaining research cachet and income if you are outside the top 20. And outside the top 5, there will be hot-housing, horse-trading and sackings of staff. If a mid range uni can make a few departments four star (top grade in research) this will be quite an achievement. One professor on £150K may do it. I am at a top 5 uni and more than half our income comes from teaching. More than half. We have massively increased student bums on seats (accidentally due to not setting entry requirements correctly before Covid-induced grade inflation). Even we go through occasional staff culling to save money. Of course all the Top Dogs are psychopathic research types. Not sure how it works down the line. At Brighton I am guessing that 'top' administrators are wankers.

I was external examiner for preclinical medicine at Brighton/Sussex (the med school is joint run) a few years ago and the staff were brilliant. But medicine is different. Medical schools are special and get special funding. The medical school where I work, 'top 5', is run by arrogant arseholes because we are top 5. At Sussex.....some arrogance but some great staff. The rest of the uni? Patchy. Brighton uni? Almost exclusively teaching. Absolutely knotted up with process, I would imagine.

Look, higher education is, or should be a socialist enterprise. Instead we (Thatcher and Major) have created a competition-base farce where we are all trying to outdo each other for money. Fifteen years ago the average mark in physiology (BSc) at Leeds was over 70%. This is grade inflation to please the customers. One of numerous ways how standards have fallen, while bullshit has risen.

Ironically, in the UK, private universities are shitehouse. Buckingham. In contrast to the US where universities are.....private! I would say that the system works better in America. But then the educated in America voted for Reagan. And Trump. But....the educated in the UK voted for the Johnson.

Not sure what the answer is, but universities in America are not beholden to government-set 'REF' and other measurements for money. It is a commercial exercise, underpinned by scholarships. In the UK I feel we have wanked up HE. I just finished marking and was told to mark up a piece of work where the conclusions are unfounded hubris, on the grounds that a final year student will be naïve. Naïve? That's like saying that Johnson set us all free is naïve.

Anyway. There's eejits everywhere.

 

[Wardy's twin]

From what I have seen of 'new' (built from the mid 50s onwards) universities and former polys (a good pal is a head of department at one) and from my 40 year 'career' in academic research, there is no chance of obtaining research cachet and income if you are outside the top 20. And outside the top 5, there will be hot-housing, horse-trading and sackings of staff. If a mid range uni can make a few departments four star (top grade in research) this will be quite an achievement. One professor on £150K may do it. I am at a top 5 uni and more than half our income comes from teaching. More than half. We have massively increased student bums on seats (accidentally due to not setting entry requirements correctly before Covid-induced grade inflation). Even we go through occasional staff culling to save money. Of course all the Top Dogs are psychopathic research types. Not sure how it works down the line. At Brighton I am guessing that 'top' administrators are wankers.

I was external examiner for preclinical medicine at Brighton/Sussex (the med school is joint run) a few years ago and the staff were brilliant. But medicine is different. Medical schools are special and get special funding. The medical school where I work, 'top 5', is run by arrogant arseholes because we are top 5. At Sussex.....some arrogance but some great staff. The rest of the uni? Patchy. Brighton uni? Almost exclusively teaching. Absolutely knotted up with process, I would imagine.

Look, higher education is, or should be a socialist enterprise. Instead we (Thatcher and Major) have created a competition-base farce where we are all trying to outdo each other for money. Fifteen years ago the average mark in physiology (BSc) at Leeds was over 70%. This is grade inflation to please the customers. One of numerous ways how standards have fallen, while bullshit has risen.

Ironically, in the UK, private universities are shitehouse. Buckingham. In contrast to the US where universities are.....private! I would say that the system works better in America. But then the educated in America voted for Reagan. And Trump. But....the educated in the UK voted for the Johnson.

Not sure what the answer is, but universities in America are not beholden to government-set 'REF' and other measurements for money. It is a commercial exercise, underpinned by scholarships. In the UK I feel we have wanked up HE. I just finished marking and was told to mark up a piece of work where the conclusions are unfounded hubris, on the grounds that a final year student will be naïve. Naïve? That's like saying that Johnson set us all free is naïve.

Anyway. There's eejits everywhere.

.the educated in the UK voted for the Johnson. - Not among those I know. Maybe its a Brighton thing though.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

.the educated in the UK voted for the Johnson. - Not among those I know. Maybe its a Brighton thing though.

Sorry, not following your narrative....

 

[Machiavelli]

From what I have seen of 'new' (built from the mid 50s onwards) universities and former polys (a good pal is a head of department at one) and from my 40 year 'career' in academic research, there is no chance of obtaining research cachet and income if you are outside the top 20. And outside the top 5, there will be hot-housing, horse-trading and sackings of staff. If a mid range uni can make a few departments four star (top grade in research) this will be quite an achievement. One professor on £150K may do it. I am at a top 5 uni and more than half our income comes from teaching. More than half. We have massively increased student bums on seats (accidentally due to not setting entry requirements correctly before Covid-induced grade inflation). Even we go through occasional staff culling to save money. Of course all the Top Dogs are psychopathic research types. Not sure how it works down the line. At Brighton I am guessing that 'top' administrators are wankers.

I was external examiner for preclinical medicine at Brighton/Sussex (the med school is joint run) a few years ago and the staff were brilliant. But medicine is different. Medical schools are special and get special funding. The medical school where I work, 'top 5', is run by arrogant arseholes because we are top 5. At Sussex.....some arrogance but some great staff. The rest of the uni? Patchy. Brighton uni? Almost exclusively teaching. Absolutely knotted up with process, I would imagine.

Look, higher education is, or should be a socialist enterprise. Instead we (Thatcher and Major) have created a competition-base farce where we are all trying to outdo each other for money. Fifteen years ago the average mark in physiology (BSc) at Leeds was over 70%. This is grade inflation to please the customers. One of numerous ways how standards have fallen, while bullshit has risen.

Ironically, in the UK, private universities are shitehouse. Buckingham. In contrast to the US where universities are.....private! I would say that the system works better in America. But then the educated in America voted for Reagan. And Trump. But....the educated in the UK voted for the Johnson.

Not sure what the answer is, but universities in America are not beholden to government-set 'REF' and other measurements for money. It is a commercial exercise, underpinned by scholarships. In the UK I feel we have wanked up HE. I just finished marking and was told to mark up a piece of work where the conclusions are unfounded hubris, on the grounds that a final year student will be naïve. Naïve? That's like saying that Johnson set us all free is naïve.

Anyway. There's eejits everywhere.

91% of academics voted Remain. You scientists were probably a higher proportion.
That doesn't translate directly into non-Tory/Johnson voters, but it most certainly doesn't translate into a majority of Tory/Johnson voters

 

[Wardy's twin]

Sorry, not following your narrative....

I quoted your comment .... just don't see that in my circle of friends who are 'educated'

 

[Weststander]

The painful journey from 90’s Poly, completely funded by the government to 21st Alliance Group University where the vast majority of income (for a Uni not really centred on research) comes from Student fees. Whilst energy costs for the institution have risen from £3m to £11m, tuition fees remain locked due to political paralysis. It’s not just energy, it’s costs across the board the University are struggling with. But unlike a private company, they can’t affect their income by raising the cost of their service in line with say, inflation.

The solution; get rid of courses that attract less than a handful of students (typically school of humanities courses teaching what would be regarded by many as Woke courses) and invest in courses from schools like Sport and Health Sciences that have popular, money making well regarded courses. Invest in suitable facilities (such as the Virgin Active centre) and flog off all the old buildings that are costing a fortune to maintain.

Lots of similar institutions to Brighton University are struggling too but the mismanagement in not gradually culling the poor performance courses over the years has come back to bite the management. I suspect they’ll be resignations once the process is over.

Would students pay more £9k per annum to be taught there?

It’s the same fee as Bristol, Durham, Sussex, London colleges with world class facilities, dowries and the virtuous circle of highly regarded academics, often leading in their field.

There’s been plenty of anger, not from right wing think tanks, but for example the NUS that there’s awful value in the £9k at many unis, some are taking the proverbial. They totted up the hours of lectures and seminars, input by tutorials. The argument is that this collapsed in March 2020, and some unis/academics are still acting in a pandemic manner. @Harry Wilson's tackle would have an insight, albeit at probably a better institution?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I quoted your comment .... just don't see that in my circle of friends who are 'educated'

I suspect you may have misunderstood my point. I said 'that's like saying Johnson set is free is naïve'. Meanining, it isn't naive. It is Utter Bollocks. As was the explanation given by my head of department. I hope I have explained better what I meant.

 

[Cheggers]

There is currently a 'consultation' being undertalen, but it is absolutely clear that the Executive Board at the UoB have already made their decision, and are actively avoiding discussion and consultation with staff. The doctoral school is in meltdown, and staff and PGRs are under imnense levels of stress. Who knows where staff and PGRs will be next academic year? I've sat in a meeting with PGRs and a member of the Exec Board (who.incidentally failed to be elected as a Tory councillor). The Exec Board member couldn't have been more elusive and dismissive in their resonses. The whole approach of the UoB has been callous, immoral and obstructive of any meaningful discussion.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Would students pay more £9k per annum to be taught there?

It’s the same fee as Bristol, Durham, Sussex, London colleges with world class facilities, dowries and the virtuous circle of highly regarded academics, often leading in their field.

There’s been plenty of anger, not from right wing think tanks, but for example the NUS that there’s awful value in the £9k at many unis, some are taking the proverbial. They totted up the hours of lectures and seminars, input by tutorials. The argument is that this collapsed in March 2020, and some unis/academics are still acting in a pandemic manner. @Harry Wilson's tackle would have an insight, albeit at probably a better institution?

Teaching is decent where I work, albeit with some shit-shadows. Elsewhere......I was looking at Medway University (or whatever they call themselves) a while ago. It is clearly a glove-puppet institution.

My worst ever PhD student, lazy, dissembling, submitted her thesis hours before being bunged out, my only student who never published a full research paper, jumped into a lectureship at the 'university' of (let's call it) Bogner, and was on the blower to me after 6 weeks complaining about how lazy her colleagues were, and was promoted to senior lecturer after 2 years.

9K is very good value where I work. On the open market I'd suggest £50K a year would be appropriate. But of course that would exclude 20% of our students. Yes....most of our students are very middle class.

So our system is not capitalist, not socialist, not well managed and not sustainable.

So, no changes expected. This. Is. Ingerland!

 

[Weststander]

My children are at St Martins primary school just off Melbourne street, The Enterprise point building there is being demolished and a student block built in its place. The developers did an open day at school to show parents the designs and how works wouldn't impact the children etc. I asked the person running it about rental cost and was told that for a basic room which [in my view] was equivalent to a Travelodge , would be £350 a week!!. Apparently they cant build student accommodation fast enough, the student flats on Gyratory, the old Lectern pub and the student block on old recycling site are all at capacity.

My son was in uni owned halls of residence in a northern town. £5,600 for effectively 25 weeks, true term lengths 10 + 10 + 5, they break up 5 weeks arriving back from Easter! When I was at uni, we broke about a week before Glast. The academic year ever shrinks. Equating to £224pw for a dated coffin.

Student rooms in HMO’s in Brighton cost £200pw.
https://jointliving.co.uk/cities/br...MIvOvVztjS_wIV0cLtCh1mkQckEAAYAiAAEgKrCvD_BwE

The Melbourne Street proposal and similar are just a voluntary new option starting at £300pw. New builds, large rooms, gym, cinema room etc. Many are taken by overseas students with doting parents.
https://www.mystudenthalls.com/student-accommodation/brighton+and+hove/aparto-vogue-studios/

 

[Seagull58]

It's not profitable for the establishment to have a well educated population. They've been doing their best to kill it off for the riff raff for well over a decade now.

Yet 40 years ago 5% of the population went to university and now it's over 30%

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

91% of academics voted Remain. You scientists were probably a higher proportion.
That doesn't translate directly into non-Tory/Johnson voters, but it most certainly doesn't translate into a majority of Tory/Johnson voters

I suspect you may have misread something I posted as I don't know what you are going on about

 

[Weststander]

Yet 40 years ago 5% of the population went to university and now it's over 30%

52% of the 18 to 22 cohort start university. The lower percentage of 38% sometimes quoted is just those who straight from school at 18.