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Another tafia here - UWCC late end of the 80's/early 90's.
Great for British archaeology and some quality and varied summer excavation sites (8wks minimum). Not a great deal of importance placed on getting enough practical skills to make you employable but a good grounding in the 'facts'. There are still a handfull of us from my year in the job which must say something!
Cardiff itself was brilliant - lots of bars/clubs/fab students union but still a very safe and unpretentious feeling place. I would happily have stayed on if only there had been any work in the area at the time.
Met my other half in the final year which goes to show how friendly the people were[:I]
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Went to Uni of Brum where i mostly learned about balti's. pretty good place actually - arts building by the library and guild in the proper old red brick campus - so i only ever had to wallk a 100 yards to reach a bar. plus they gave us ?500 for a three week holiday, sorry study tour, which i spent happily wandering around pompeii.
On a similar topic...Did anyone see the latest news today on graduate salaries? Previously we've been told that a graduate will earn 450k more during lifetime than a non-grad so we can all afford big fees. now that figure is down to 150k according to some report in the guardian.
Even better still.... Male Art graduates earn less over their life than non-grads (didnt mention about females)! which made me feel great about going to work this morning - knew i shouldve done a bsc in archaeology, not a ba. I dont suppose i can sell my degree back to the uni? after all i paid for it so it must be worth something.
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Well, Jagiellonian University in Cracow
Whatever will happen to my ...ehhem... career, I won`t regret that choise... I had luck that I got there, I had the time of my life studying archeology and I met wonderful people there
And the city itself, perfect place for student life
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University of Calgary, Canada.
A great Uni for Plains Archaeology, not so great for stuff I'm doing in the UK now. The lithics and osteology courses were first rate however and I still use what I can remember from them.
The best part of the degree was the excellent field school, which convinced me that I could succeed at field archaeology even if I hated much of the academic side. In retrospect we did some dodgy North American grid square excavation better suited to native sites than the 1875 North Western Mounted Police site that we were excavating, but what the hell.
Also the uni, unlike all but one other North American university, had its own archaeology department that was separate from the anthropology department. This was an enlightened view, that avoided the annoying and old fashioned tendency of classing archaeology as a minor part of anthropology.
First rate uni even if my degree wasn't!
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Bradford for me too in the early 90s (an outsider might get the impression that there are only about three archaeology departments in Britain). I got in by using The Force as my A-level results were not the ones anyone else was looking for.
I already had a fair amount of digging experience before joining the course and managed to fit in a lot during it too, although I did dodge the placement year, a move that I regret somewhat now (doesn't seem to have done my employment prospects any harm though).
I thoroughly enjoyed (most of) the course and (some of) the city too. A lot of other Bradford posters appear to be ignoring the City's attractions; cheap beer and cheapish accommodation, the National Museum of Photography, Cartwright Hall gallery, public parks, Undercliffe and Scholemoor cemeteries and what's left of the somewhat grubby and un-cared for but often impressive Victorian architecture. And what about those attractions out of town; Saltaire (World Heritage Site), The Yorkshire Dales and Baildon Moor.
D. Vader
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Newcastle Uni in the mid-eighties. Fond memories of a certain lecturer being carried home by his wife as he could not last out the afternoon lectures with that much beer in him. I sometimes wish I had managed to get to the morning lectures.
Eggbasket
There's nothing like a Dane ...
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Do you have to pay if you want to get to university? In Poland generaly public education is for free, except evening and weekend studies.
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In Canada you pay for everything! Students in the UK don't know how lucky they have had it, and still do to some extent.
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Yes maltaire, you do have to pay I'm afraid! Though its based around a student loan, which gives you money to live on and can range from ?0 to about ?3000 a year - it all depends on how much your parents earn. Tuition fees are assessed in the same way - these are about ?1500 a year for undergrad, more for postgrad - about ?3000 for a one year masters.
Generally UK students graduate with ?10,000-?15,000 worth of debt, which then has to be paid off in monthly instalments once you earn over ?15,000 a year.
Still... according to a recent list in the Times, archaeology graduates earn less in their first job than any other subject (average ?13,400). So looks like most of us won't be over that ?15,000 threshold for several years at least! Personally I'm not planning to pay mine off ever - once you get to 65 they write it off anyway! :face-approve:
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Australia is the same, though about half to a third of costs here (UK). Mind you they have the decency to give you a near dole like equiv to live on. You can also supliment it by working. Also don't have to pay it back unless earning a certain amount within OZ. Which suits me fine as not there. I think they write it off after 10 or so years (six to go!)
