UK, Europe and Rest of the World schools

[mpleportals]

Having spent some time both in the financial sector (UK) as well as in graduate schools I have observed the following:

1) Teaching at top UK schools is extremely bad
2) European schools (no matter how good) lack prestige (both in academia and in the finance industry)!
3) 2nd tier (20+) US schools lack reputation (mainly in the private world)

So assume that a European (doctor wannabe) had to choose something between the 3.
What do you think it would be the best choice?

How is teaching in good European schools (e.g. Toulouse, Bonn, Tilburg etc.)? In US?

[asianeconomist]

Originally Posted by mpleportals

Having spent some time both in the financial sector (UK) as well as in graduate schools I have observed the following:

1) Teaching at top UK schools is extremely bad

How exactly ? Kindly explicate.

[mpleportals]

Originally Posted by asianeconomist

How exactly ? Kindly explicate.

You are thrown in the ocean and asked to swim. You are strangling to keep yourself on the water (and not to learn)

Nothing explained by lecturers (everything not on notes is assumed to be already known!). Notes very abbreviated (e.g. 3 lines of proof on the notes, 1.5 pages if you manage to derive the proof on your own). Frequently no solutions are provided for given problems. Just very very brief hints!
In other words you don't even need to go to the lectures. You only study from the lecture notes and trying to understand what is written on them through the help of numerous books (often more than 10! very broad material is covered)

[asianeconomist]

I guess your classification would include Oxbridge and LSE among others.

However, I heard that the supervisions in small groups was really personalised and allowed students to work in close quarters with instructors.

[Diplomer]

Originally Posted by mpleportals

Nothing explained by lecturers (everything not on notes is assumed to be already known!). Notes very abbreviated (e.g. 3 lines of proof on the notes, 1.5 pages if you manage to derive the proof on your own). Frequently no solutions are provided for given problems. Just very very brief hints! In other words you don't even need to go to the lectures. You only study from the lecture notes and trying to understand what is written on them through the help of numerous books (often more than 10! very broad material is covered)

Did you participate more than one university in the UK? I heard several times now that the way of teaching at LSE's Masters programmes resembles very much the German style that you mentioned above, but can this be generalized to all British universities?

Best wishes
Diplomer

[LouisBD]

I am not a Phd student at Tilburg (or elsewhere) but I can confirm -in all honesty- that the teaching there is very good.

Most professors are happy helping you; you get lots of study materials, etc.
Moreover they attach great value to teaching and consequently it is subject to scrutiny continuously.

[mpleportals]

Originally Posted by asianeconomist

I guess your classification would include Oxbridge and LSE among others.

However, I heard that the supervisions in small groups was really personalised and allowed students to work in close quarters with instructors.

I am in one of the institutions you mentioned. What is great (at least for me and for some friends) about these schools is the research support you receive. However in terms of teaching most students are dissatisfied.

[mpleportals]

Originally Posted by Diplomer

Did you participate more than one university in the UK? I heard several times now that the way of teaching at LSE's Masters programmes resembles very much the German style that you mentioned above, but can this be generalized to all British universities?

Best wishes
Diplomer

According to what I have heard the low quality of teaching applies to many British schools. That is possibly due to the structure of the educational system in Britain. Most professors focus exclusively on their research (which would give them more government funding) and just don't care about teaching. It is true that most top researchers in Britain are crap at teaching (I should not mention names here) and the best teachers are often the research students!

[DattaPlot54321]

As someone who's gone to school in the UK for undergrad, I can say that it is definitely true. You are pretty much asked to fend for yourself. However, I definitely do not agree that British teachers don't care about teaching. They expect you to be mature enough to come to them if you have issues, and if you do, they're very enthusiastic to help. They want people to have initiative and demonstrate that they can be independent (you are getting a PhD after all...) You don't get that distinction for nothing, folks.

[mpleportals]

Originally Posted by DattaPlot54321

As someone who's gone to school in the UK for undergrad, I can say that it is definitely true. You are pretty much asked to fend for yourself. However, I definitely do not agree that British teachers don't care about teaching. They expect you to be mature enough to come to them if you have issues, and if you do, they're very enthusiastic to help. They want people to have initiative and demonstrate that they can be independent (you are getting a PhD after all...) You don't get that distinction for nothing, folks.

Are you aware that very frequently professors are arguing on who is going to teach (better not to teach!) which course? The truth is that they want to spend the least possible time on teaching. Many people move jobs for this reason.

Finally could you explain me how can a 10-15 minutes meeting with the lecturer be the cure for his bad teaching and his abbreviated notes? The lecturer should try to make the student's life easier and not to add unnecessary hurdles. He should help him to go further and not make his life more difficult