Keep in mind Swinburne's history. It wasn't always a "university". Providing company specific training (which as we know is a subset type of education) is fine, as long as it's not 'sold' as a Bachelor of Science degree because it would not be that. More like a certificate. Nothing wrong with that, but I do hope they aren't overselling what the students will get. Still, our "Education" Minister, Dan "Africa is a country" Tehan will love it.
Microsoft University and others run by corporates were a way to build a workforce. Nothing wrong with that either, but they shouldn't be called 'university' either. Remember, there was once a Trump University, too. They were shut down because, well, fraud. Jan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger Clarke" To: Cc: Sent:Mon, 26 Oct 2020 09:24:44 +1100 Subject:Re: [LINK] The Corporatisation of Tertiary Training > On 21/10/20 1:36 pm, Roger Clarke wrote: >> [ It's remarkable how long the concept lasted of a university being >> independent in respect of content development, content projection, and >> degree-granting. ... On 26/10/20 8:45 am, Tom Worthington wrote: > Australian universities were established to provide trained > professionals and useful research, not just to think great thoughts. > > It is getting more transactional, but it has always been the case that > if a university didn't produce useful graduates or research, then it > would have difficulty attracting funding. Agreed. But my point was less about whether AWS produces quality materials and useful graduates - because I have no insights into those questions. One concern is that the degree is a "collaboration", and "verified by AWS Educate" - although, the students, after paying for the degree, may have to pay more to AWS afterwards, because "students in the degree won’t automatically receive certification from AWS". The biggest issue, however, is that the statement that the students are to "gain skills and first-hand knowledge of AWS’ product development methodology" gives rise to a serious risk that students won't get general principles and standards-based approaches supplemented by exposure to several different proprietary tools, but will instead themselves be tools of AWS's market domination strategy. _______________________ >> Swinburne Uni launches AWS-backed cloud degree >> Matt Johnston itNews Oct 21 2020 >> https://www.itnews.com.au/news/swinburne-uni-launches-aws-backed-cloud-degree-554926 >> > > I prefer an approach where you can get a broad education, plus can > obtain specific industry certifications for a job. > https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2020/09/higher-education-in-post-pandemic-world.html > > > -- Roger Clarke mailto:[email protected] T: +61 2 6288 6916 http://www.xamax.com.au http://www.rogerclarke.com Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Law University of N.S.W. Visiting Professor in Computer Science Australian National University _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
