Re: [kent-grads] Any university's collegiate system fading?

[Brian Meadows <brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 15 Dec 2005 13:32:57 -0000, Tim wrote:

>Oxford is overhauling its admission system which will result in central 
>applications and "The university admitted that as a result, colleges will 
>lose autonomy and individuality."
>
>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/12/15/noxf15.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/12/15/ixhome.html
>
>I have to admit that in my time at Kent (1998-2002) I did not especially 
>feel the college system - other than the location of some accomodation 
>(which was not used by all and in any case I understand this has since been 
>decoupled) and having to vote in your college for SU elections (though this 
>was increasingly abandoned by my last year) I could have gone through my 
>entire university career and never once have it matter just which college I 
>was in. (Okay there were some other things but not all followed them.)
>
>Was it different in earlier years?
>

Not as far as I was concerned - but then I didn't know I'd got my
place at Kent until a week before I arrived there, which meant I
had to spend my first year living off campus. I'd probably have
taken a college room for that first year if there had still been
one available. As a science postgrad, I didn't even need to go
and check for mail in Eliot, it all came to the department, so I
doubt I set foot in Eliot ten times a year (Rutherford was a
different matter, but that was because it was where the bridge
club met). 

Once I'd got used to living off campus (and found somewhere to
live that *wasn't* in Herne Bay!) I decided I preferred shared
houses to the college shoeboxes, and stayed that way for all
three years. It would almost certainly have been a different
story if I'd spent that first year on campus.

A collegiate system *can* work really well. I did my B.Sc. at
Lancaster, the other new university in those days, and there was
no comparison with UKC. Proper self-catering kitchens that
doubled as social areas in all colleges, no driving off-campus
students away in the evenings due to catering schemes, and
centralised facilities open to all, irrespective of which college
you'd joined. Even during my near-compulsory second year living
off-campus in "sunny" Morecambe, I still spent most evenings on
campus - partly because I'd got into the habit during my first
year, but mostly because I hadn't been driven off campus by the
need to get something to eat. 


Brian. 
Eliot (allegedly) 1979-81. 

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