In my country; snome universities give some certificates worthless the paper they print on. Every year a new university pops up and filled with all neighboring countries. So that it is common to join a university and after graduation, no company will accept it.
In the UK you can't just set up a university, it's a long and difficult process, and in many respects a degree from one is as good as a degree from another for 'most' jobs.
In my case as an HND holder ( honored by Edexcel UK ), I'm looking to continue my education. This year, an institue offered The Bachelor of Engineering Program ( BEng ) for a period of 12 months. The fees = $ 9 408 or 4 700 Pounds. it is accredited by the University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, UK.
My questions are:
- Is this qualification makes me Engineer ?
- Is the University of Teesside is one of top universities ( as they claimed )
- In short is this offer worth it ? or there is a better ones ?
I would suggest that Teeside is one of the 'lower' universities, an easy check is to see what their entry requirements are - also check their range of courses, they are fairly limited, and are mostly practical based (which is often a good thing).
Quite a lot of UK Cities have two Universities, a good one, and a poorer one - for example Sheffield has 'Sheffield University' (good one) and 'Hallam University' (poorer one), Nottingham is similar, as is Leicester, and Newcastle (plus many more).
For many jobs it makes no difference, the same degree from any is the exact same qualification - the main difference is the entry requirements - 'better' Universities have much higher requirements. Some (like Cambridge) require three A grades at A level, the lowest might require no A levels at all, or perhaps only one, and that at C grade.
We're currently looking at Universities for our daughter, she's just finished year 12, and needs to be applying later this year.
Mostly she's looking at medium to high ones (she's definitely NOT considering Cambridge, she's been there for a day, and loved the buildings, but hated the people and the 'feel' of the place). One serious contender is Newcastle, she's had a day there as well, she loved the place, it does the courses she wants, and the people and the 'feel' were really great. She's got various ones to visit yet, and the next is 'Keele University', which is probably the lowest rated she's visiting, but is 'different' to any others, and very quirky (you might give it a look?).
As for Teeside, I would imaginge it's very similar in 'feel' to Newcastle, so it's probably a fun place to be, and the people will be very friendly - apparently 50% of the graduates from Newcastle try and stay in the area when they leave, a friends son finished his degree a year ago, and he's now working in a call centre in Newcastle. Bit of a waste of a degree, but he wanted to stay there, and he's very happy - what more can you ask?.