Studied abroad, Realise U.C.D is rubbish?

MrMatisse

Anyone done postgrad or just left U.C.D to do undergrad abroad and now see why U.C.D does so badly in international rankings?
Awful campus in the middle of nowhere;) hardly any open access P.C's , Academics with a moderate or little international reputation, 3rd world science facilities, pretty poor campus atmosphere after 2 or 3 o'clock, poor lecture attendance, low quality research etc etc.

How far is U.C.D behind as Hugh Brady admits?

Time Magazine

holyrood85 wrote:

why U.C.D does so badly in international rankings?

Awful campus in the middle of nowhere

hardly any open access P.C's

pretty poor campus atmosphere after 2 or 3 o'clock

poor lecture attendance

None of these affect international rankings.

MrMatisse

Anyone been to U.C.D, studied abroad, understand what m asking and think U.C.D can catch up?:rolleyes:

MrMatisse

This is not a I HATE UCD rant or one focused on the composition of international rankings but a general thread on how far U.C.D is behind other unis in all aspects using international rankings as an example.:p

singingstranger

Well, I'm studying abroad and frankly I think UCD could piss all over the place I'm in right now. So ... nyeh.

Sangre

Realistically, how well do you think a country of 4.5 million people will ever be able to compete with the top international universities?

singingstranger

Well, that said, I'm in a country of 80-odd million and this University, despite being known around the country (honestly) for being a good place to do economics, law, computer science or foreign languages, isn't a tap on UCD. There's no student or society life, very few common computers, nothing like a programme office where you can pop in to ask an admin question... it's rubbish. Supposed to be one of Germany's best and I've checked, it doesn't clock into the top 500 on any of those rankings.

GusherING

Sangre wrote:

Realistically, how well do you think a country of 4.5 million people will ever be able to compete with the top international universities?

If Irish Universities are ever to compete with the best in the world, a change in strategy will be required for the entire third level sector. Instead of having seven universities catering equally for all areas at third level like we do now, each university should specialise in particular areas, ie. UCD & Science, TCD & Arts, UCC & Health Sciences, NUIG and Engineering, etc. Whether there is political will to do that and also, whether that is a policy Ireland should pursue for our needs as a society and economy are open to debate.

Sangre

That is possibly the worst idea I've ever heard. Remove competition? A sure-fire way encourage development and innovation.

Pure Cork

I'm thinking about going to UCD next year, so I'm speaking as an outsider. I think Irish colleges compare very favourably to those abroad.

In engineering, UCD/CIT students seem to have had a lot of success. The best examples I can think of are the performance of UCD in Formula Student, and CIT students winning prestigious international engineering competitions, beating the likes of Imperial, etc. Generalised league tables are rubbish.

It is hard for Irish universities to compete in terms of research when you look at the likes of MIT, which is primarily a research university considering the overwhelming number of postgrad students, and the funding they receive. But, guys from CIT (and I presume UCD) do their ME or PhD in places like MIT and Imperial because of the quality of their qualification.

griffdaddy

holyrood85 wrote:

Academics with a moderate or little international reputation

some of the academics in the 2 departments i study in are top of their fields in the world (english and philosophy)

GusherING

Sangre wrote:

That is possibly the worst idea I've ever heard. Remove competition? A sure-fire way encourage development and innovation.

No, they wouldn't be removed from competition. It would enable them to compete with the best universities in the world, which is the point. Thats a sure-fire way to encourage development and innovation. The status quo certainly doesn't allow it.

tywy

our head of dept suggested restructuring the irish system to be more like the american one in that there should be one main research university and then lots of teaching universities.

In the states, in a catchment area of 8 million people there is one research uni and then lots of feeder teaching unis.

I think this sounds like a much better idea than having too many unis. WIT are looking to become a uni ffs!

Raskolnikov

singingstranger wrote:

Well, that said, I'm in a country of 80-odd million and this University, despite being known around the country (honestly) for being a good place to do economics, law, computer science or foreign languages, isn't a tap on UCD. There's no student or society life, very few common computers, nothing like a programme office where you can pop in to ask an admin question... it's rubbish. Supposed to be one of Germany's best and I've checked, it doesn't clock into the top 500 on any of those rankings.

A friend of mine had the same thing to say about his French university he was in. Virtually no student services, 200 or so open access computers to share amoungst a campus of 30,000, regular student rioting, robberies, assaults and rape regularily taking place on campus, etc.

Universities in the US however are as a whole, top-notch. So maybe it's a case of Europe just being awful.

Stepherunie

Gotta say UCD - far superior to the college i'm in at the moment, better facilities, better access to stuff, actual admin staff to help you out. I'm in the health centre here and they're 8 computers to share between about 500 - 600 students. Once you get a pc you're limited to 8 hours net access per week. They have wireless on campus (a half hour walk from here) but it's in 2 rooms in the entire campus.

At home most of my lecturers have PHDs, radiography ones and non radiography ones alike - here that isn't the case. Also there are no student societies here, they have an SU and that's it. As far as I can tell they don't even have sabbats.

In terms of facilities, back home I work in modern hospitals that use modern equipment, my school have recently relocated to modern facilities with the newest of equipment all digitised and there own PACS system (this won't mean anythign ot most but it's a bloody expensive computer system). To meet the changes in my course my school hired a lecturer with a PHD in Comp Sci in order to teach at both undergraduate and post graduate level on computer applications in radiography - a very important way to keep up to date. Here I work in a hospital that is completely film screen, even places where at home even the most out of the way backward hospital would have digital. Some of the equipment here hasn't been in use in Ireland for around 20 years and yet it can be found here.

UCD can be disorganised as hell, completely infuriating, a wind swept myriad of grey buildings but damn it it beats a maltese winter with this college hands down, my only exception is that they actually tell us what's going on here....

EDIT: It also goes to show what great lectuers we have in UCD when one of my lecturers was out here last week lecturing all the staff from the hospital and the students too on digital equipment because they don't have the lecturers here to do it. He also regularly travels to Greece lecturing too.

dajaffa

Raskolnikov wrote:

Universities in the US however are as a whole, top-notch.

Pity they involve paying extorsionate fees which result in a nice mountain of debt to spend much of your working life paying off...

Royale with Cheese

Studied abroad. Realised Dublin is rubbish, UCD could be worse. UCD is ranked 420 or something like that. University of Cologne - 150 odd. Also a completely unorganised joke of a place.

Ernie Ball

Please note: there is no official "world ranking" of universities. There are only unofficial ones. All of them use methodologies that are specious to varying degrees. The one most people, including Hugh Brady, cite as the "world ranking" (the one where UCD comes out in the 400s) is a complete joke. Its sole measure for the "quality of education" provided by universities is the number of alumni going on to win Nobel prizes or Fields Medals. See for yourself.

Even if there were official rankings and everyone could agree on a reasonable methodology, there would still be some major problems. For one, university administrations would start to try to "game" the rankings. In the Shanghai Jiao Tong University rankings, for example, the simplest and most cost-effective way to increase a university's ranking is to hire one or more Nobel prize winners to the staff. Since fully 20% of the university's score is based on this, even one such hiring would cause the university to rocket up the rankings. But does anyone believe that the overall quality of the institution is affected very much by such a hiring? This kind of thing happens all the time in the US, where they have a quasi-official ranking (the US News & World Report rankings). Here's an interesting article about a college that has cast off the tyranny of specious rankings.

Am I saying that some institutions aren't better than others? Not at all. But the question always should be: 'better at what?' No institution can be good at all things. Focussing endlessly on rankings is a way of abdicating responsibility for deciding what, exactly, the priorities of the institution should be. When Brady says "we must compete internationally" or "UCD should become world-class," he is giving expression to this abdication.

Ado86

Im currently studying Veterinary here in UCD. In response to UCD being a rubbish college I really dont agree but it could do things to improve certain areas. I studied in Trinity (which is ranked higher than UCD, as far as I know) but to be perfectly honest I cant see why.

In Trinity, there is a certain reputation attached and in my opinion, that is all. Trinity lecturers and professors are more interested in their own careers than actually lecturing and imparting their wisdom to the next generation. They are very self centred. From my experience they were completely unhelpful, their attitude was if you needed any help or asked any questions, you were not of Trinity material, which is a rather retarded attitude to have as if they answered or directed the students in the right direction, they might produce better equiped graduates. The campus of Trinity is nice to look at, from the tourists point of view..but not as a student.

UCD I have found is very student orientated and the academic staff are concerened with our welfare and not their own career.

The only problem I have with UCD is that in trying to further itself on the academic rankings, I feel that they are just copying other institutions and hoping the new innovations will meet the new standards. As a vet student the main concern I would have is the accreditation we are awaiting from the american veterinary association, AVMA, our degree is not currently recognised in the US and inhibits the american students who train here from working at home, and our graduates cannot work there, which would provide great learning opportunities for us. I fear that the vet school is just trying to adapt its policies etc to fit with the american vet schools in the hope of getting their accrediation. This doesnt really benefit the AVMA but would be of great significance to UCD, and would add alot of prestige to the course.

damnyanks

Isn't it near impossible to rate universities based on their undergraduate populas / courses?

Know lots of people who did undergrad at LSE and they have nothing good to say about it. Main focus is on research, undergrad is seen as a money earner or feeder for research.

Umaro

I'm doing a student exchange to Sydney in Australia at the moment, I can now really see how truly **** UCD is as a Uni.

Australia only has a population of about 20 million to support their education system but this college is about a hundred times better than UCD. I'm on campus in a 5 bedroom townhouse with a 1 minute walk to the laundry area, 5 minute walk to the gym and 2 swimming pools, hi-speed internet in my bedroom, never a shortage of PCs on campus, cheap/free beer at the student bar, quality lecture theatres - it's brilliant.

I study Commerce at Quinn School usually and that's way nice than the rest of the UCD campus, and it's probably one of the best business schools in Europe - but apart from that UCD is rubbish. I wish I didn't have to go back there in September :-(

stolenwine

I did my undergrad in quite a high ranking u.k university it was an amazing experience.

I'm sure it all depends on what department you're in. I'm doing a h.dip at ucd now, my department is very disorganised with alot of infighting. At the end of the day all I want is the piece of paper. My only concern is if I want to work abroad I can't gauge how it will stand to me.

panda100

I spent the summer in UBC in Vancouver.Even during the summer it was buzzing with students. I loved thier alll night coffee houses.They Used to be packed with students having poetry readings and really deep discussions to the wee hours. Its only when you go away do you realise how much UCD night life/social life relys on the bars and alcohol.

Sangre

North American Unis have the big advantage that nearly everyone lives on or near campus (and away from home). Really helps the social scene, especially if the college is located away from a city centre.

panda100

Sangre wrote:

North American Unis have the big advantage that nearly everyone lives on or near campus (and away from home). Really helps the social scene, especially if the college is located away from a city centre.

UCD is located away from a city centre too. The distance from UBC to vancouver was about the same from UCD to Dublin city centre.
Your right though,The fact that loads of people who are from Dublin go home straight away after college does leave campus a bit dead.

beanyb

And the fact that even people who do live on campus tend to go home at the weekend. In the States due to the distances involved for most people they'll only go home for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas.

griffdaddy

panda100 wrote:

I loved thier alll night coffee houses.They Used to be packed with students having poetry readings and really deep discussions to the wee hours.

sounds like a side effect to BC's liberal drug laws to me:p