5/27/2007
unsw - money is the end all
UNSW
Too hasty a decision
University's governing body had 30 seconds to decide on Singapore. Sydney Morning Herald.
May 26, 2006
By Harriet Alexander
The University of NSW rushed through plans for its now collapsed Singapore campus so quickly that the university's governing body was given just 30 seconds to scrutinise the proposal, a senior academic says.
One former member of the governing body said he was so disgusted by the decision in early 2004 that he decided not to stand again for his position on the University of NSW council.
Yesterday the university announced it was abandoning the university's Asia operation in Singapore after losing millions of dollars on the venture.
Fewer than 150 students had enrolled in the offshore campus this year, far short of plans to have it expand to 15,000 students over the next two decades.
It is the latest hitch in the Australian university sector's troubled attempts to exploit the lucrative international student market by setting up offshore campuses.
I extracted the above bits from littlespeck.com.
This is what will happen when the original objective of education is hijacked into a money making enterprise. It is now all about money.
The noble objective of education, the responsibility of educating and training a productive population is discarded and forgotten. Now it is whether there is money to be made. If not, simply close it down, cut your losses, and look for another more lucrative business.
Is there anything to learn from this?
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5 comments:
> Is there anything to learn from this? <
Absolutely.
When collectivists start to run things, and they collect money in exchange for some "goods"...
.... Be careful. As always, caveat emptor.
The strange thing is that if it was private enterprise, people become kiasu, and do as much checking as possible. As they should.
But when a government (or in this case governmentS) are trying to play "educational hub-builder" or "educational entrepreneur", they invariably FAIL.
This kind of failure, IMO is GOOD, because that is the way it is supposed to happen, and lucky it has (be thankful for small mercies) before it was too late.
Let us imaging that the parties went ahead and stayed committed by pumping in more squillions.... and then the project fails later. In other words, early failure has resulted in CUTTING THE LOSES, which is at least is a tad "responsible" to these usually don't-fuck-care-it's-not-my-money-I-only-work-here-so-don't-blame-me lo talent, lo-frequency, low energy civil servants
there is another batch of 100 foundation students being left in the lurch.
these students and parents have paid so much money, invested their hopes in unsw only to be abandoned because it does not make profit sense to unsw. didn't they know it in the first place?
we are talking about an enterprise being conceived by high intellect people, not the 'boh tak cheh' entrepreneur. this is really shameful and irresponsible.
Nothing is risk-free, no matter how reputable or prestigious the party you're dealing with is perceived to be. These students should just stop bitching and just accept UNSW's offer for them to transfer to their Sydney campus.
for those who can afford to go to sydney they will. but looking at the expression of some of the students, not many can afford that option.
it is no joking matter as they are stretching to pay their way for their future.
These days most "high intellect" people you speak of have been educated in state education systems, such that the "criteria" of their intellect (i.e. the way they use their minds) is passing whatever tests and exams are set by The State.
These people generally make FUCKING LOUSY entrepreneurs.
"High intellect" (educated fools) people who try to start businesses, and screw up do so because they ain't got the "street smarts" necessary to ward off real threats, by real people; as opposed to hypothetical scenarios in textbook examples.
Now you know why the scholars who run the GLCs are such lousy business persons. :)
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