In a shed with their arm half way up a cows arse.
Every wondered why it is so hard to find some-one in a leadership position in this country, who could unequivocally be described as "brilliant"? Why do we have such mediocre politicians and even more mediocre civil servants in positions of influence? Look around the public service, and the best you can hope for is competence, and very often we don't even get that.
Well in part it can be put down to the points system. The brightest people are attracted to the courses with the highest points, and so for example the brightest and best often become veterinarians (see above). Its a well understood phenomenom. People like to get "value" for their points, and if they have 550 points they don't want to be in a class where the entry fee is just 300 points.
Computing, despite the strong demand for good computing graduates (employers are beating my door down looking for them...) has traditionally had a low points threshold, and thus very rarely attracts the 500-points-plus student.
What to do. Well in Ireland we often develop elaborate plans, but we rarely implement them. So best to stick with something simple. There is a registration fee of €2000 coming in next year. Why not raise it to €4000 for prospective vets and reduce it to €500 for computing and engineering courses? Note that attempting to influence the "points market" is already an accepted tactic - higher maths already gets "bonus points" to encourage students to take it.
Every wondered why it is so hard to find some-one in a leadership position in this country, who could unequivocally be described as "brilliant"? Why do we have such mediocre politicians and even more mediocre civil servants in positions of influence? Look around the public service, and the best you can hope for is competence, and very often we don't even get that.
Well in part it can be put down to the points system. The brightest people are attracted to the courses with the highest points, and so for example the brightest and best often become veterinarians (see above). Its a well understood phenomenom. People like to get "value" for their points, and if they have 550 points they don't want to be in a class where the entry fee is just 300 points.
Computing, despite the strong demand for good computing graduates (employers are beating my door down looking for them...) has traditionally had a low points threshold, and thus very rarely attracts the 500-points-plus student.
What to do. Well in Ireland we often develop elaborate plans, but we rarely implement them. So best to stick with something simple. There is a registration fee of €2000 coming in next year. Why not raise it to €4000 for prospective vets and reduce it to €500 for computing and engineering courses? Note that attempting to influence the "points market" is already an accepted tactic - higher maths already gets "bonus points" to encourage students to take it.
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