Bail Out
‘WISH you were here? asks the Telegraph on its front page. Britons bask in sunshine as Americans flee hurricane.
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| A 2-1 for Flintoff and the lads |
Of course, not all Americans are acting like the soaking wet man running through a watery street in New Orleans as he tries to evade Hurricane Katrina, just as not all Brits are picking pebbles out of their swimsuits on a stony and sunny beach in Brighton.
But it does serve to make us feel good about things. Although such news – gloating at our luck and the misfortune of others – cannot last, and with Tony Blair due back from his holidays tomorrow, the Telegraph forecasts grey skies for everyone and more spin than an Oklahoma twister.
So it will soon be time to leave the country, to chase the sun on an endless summer. But book early because there could be thousands of students opting to take time off and travel the globe.
The Times hears from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service which says that around 60,000 students are desperately looking for a place to study.
Most of the top universities are full just a week into the clearing process, which links students to available places, and the rest are filling up fast.
But while the paper worries about a system that encourages students to find a course, any course, fast, the paper spots an escape route.
So hungry are Australia and New Zealand for new British blood that colleges Down Under are offering scholarships to students who want to study there.
Seven universities in the region are offering financial assistance to any of the 60,000 British school-leavers who cant get a place in the UK.
The paper seems keen on the idea and says that studying so far abroad is an attractive and viable option.
It hears from Gemma Shaw. Shes from Ipswich, and shes been studying in Queensland. Pictured smiling on a photograph that doubles as a recruitment poster, Gemma tells us about her amazing apartment on the beach.
Chris Madden, pro-Vice Chancellor of Griffith University in Queensland, where Gemma studied, is given time to deliver his argument. Says he: Before they [UK universities] were importers, but now with tuition fees, and given the exchange rates, the cost of studying here is not much more than staying at home.
The paper tells us that 7,000 of Griffiths 30,000-strong student body are foreigners, and how the institution is offering full scholarships on all tuition fees, except for medical students.
So, come on, kids, what are you waiting for? Get packing now! Make some room at our schools of higher learning for the rest of us.
And if youre worried about being accepted, dont be. Tell the Aussies you can play cricket that way theyre bound to want you even more…’
Posted: 30th, August 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
