Interesting Facts

12th November University Defection Day - The day when more freshers drop out of higher education than any other. National Pizza With Everything (Except Anchovies) Day - Yes there is practically a pizza day for every day of the year. This one is for people who don't like anchovies. Do you remember when we looked at some alternative pizza toppings? (I might even have an oven in time!) It's also pneumonia day. So, if you have pneumonia, get well soon. 

A Secondary School in the UK, the Harris Academy Upper Norwood, has received  top Ofsted Marks after banning slang like "coz", "woz" and 'innit'. (A whole list of words were outlawed including:- “coz”, “aint”, “like”, “we woz”, “you woz”, “innit”, along with “bare” – slang for “very”, and “extra” – which means “over the top” Students are also barred from starting sentences with “basically” and ending sentences with “yeah",  in an attempt to make students more employable after leaving school. Students heard using slang including “ain’t” - a word that originated in the 18th century - were asked to “reflect” on its use. "Well ain't that just bare amazin`?  Yeah! I mean, it ain't like we woz learnin' extra slang on t' Network innit?  Wicked!"  Actually I always say, "Don't use slang until you can use English proficiently".)

According to a report from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, the Saturday job is dead. (In the 90s, nearly half of sixth-formers (16-17-year-old students) in the UK had a Saturday job, but that number had fallen to 18% by 2014. Now, before you say it's because youths of today are a bunch of lazy so and sos, it seems it's because they prefer to spend their time studying.  And they could well be right for doing so, as research from the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex found that taking a part-time job  while studying for exams, helped students gain work skills and pocket money for those teenage essentials, but had a negative impact on their exam results. I would still take a Saturday job.  No one cares about your exam results after a few years, but people always value experience.) Source

Attendees at the National Union of Students Women's Conference were asked not to clap after some delegates reported feeling anxious during audience applause. (The NUS Women's Campaign tweeted from its official account: "Some delegates are requesting that we move to jazz hands rather than clapping, as it's triggering anxiety. Please be mindful!" But clapping was not the only behaviour that caused problems for attendees at the Solihull event. Another delegate claimed that murmuring was "making things inaccessible", leading the NUS to issue an edict banning "chat" and "whooping". It's lucky I wasn't there, as I am jazzhandaphobic.  Just tell everyone to sit on their hands, and be quiet.  Back to kindergarten.)

According to psychologists at Virginia and Harvard Universities, people hate being left alone with nothing to do but think. (People preferred a jolt of pain to being made to sit and think: two-thirds of men, and a quarter of women pressed a button to deliver a painful jolt during a 15-minute spell of solitude. Allegedly, one man found thinking so uncomfortable that he opted to shock himself 190 times.  Either that, or he is a masochist.)

According to a story in the Daily Star, there are 32 students living in one house in Plymouth. The house started life as four separate terraced houses, which were knocked through into one complex of rooms. (The house comprises of, 32 bedrooms; 22 toilets; two living rooms; three kitchens; one utility room; seven showers (four of which contain twin showers); one bath; a pool table; a dart board; four washing machines; five fridges; five freezers; and four ovens. They get through 40 loo rolls; 20 bin bags of rubbish; 100 tins of baked beans; 20 large bags of pasta; 500 cans of beer; 150 cans of cider; 50 Pot Noodles; 150 takeaways. And each week they collectively spend their time in the following activities: 320 hours at lectures; 311 hours partying at nightclubs; 1,300 hours watching TV; 900 hours playing PlayStation; 224 hours playing pool. According to The Wright Stuff, by the time they graduate they will owe over 1 million in student fees. Of course, that's always assuming ...

A housing block in London has been voted the worst building in Britain. (It was built for students from University College London, and initially planning permission was refused, but according to Building Design magazine, the project gained permission after an appeal to planning officials on the grounds that students don’t require the same quality of accommodation as the rest of society. I think we need a list of names from that meeting.)

According to a government report, Fair Access to Professional Careers, 41% of law undergraduates, 57% of medical students and 49% of journalism students in Britain come from the UK's 'highest socio-economic groups’. (The independent reviewer on social mobility (yes we really do have one), Alan Milburn pointed out that some middle-class graduates were also locked out of the job market and internships because their families did not have - the right connections. Birds of a feather stick together Mr Milburn.) Source

Germany has been named as the most supportive country for overseas students, in an international league table. (T he British Council has placed Germany in first place in what is called the 'Global Gauge', which  ranks university systems on measures such as openness, degree quality, how widely degrees are recognised, support for overseas students and how much students were encouraged to spend time abroad.    What's really funny is that one of the main  attractions for international students is the increasing availability in Germany of courses taught entirely in English, so much so that students can complete degrees without ever having to speak German!  Now why didn't I think of that?)

According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, more than a fifth of UK University students fail to finish their degrees. (But it seems to depend on the university. The study showed that 45.4 per cent of Bolton University students failed to finish their studies, and at London Metropolitan University, the figure was 44.4 per cent, but at Oxford University, only 3.6 per cent failed to complete the course they started. Why don't you finish what you started? Hmm I feel a song coming on.) Source

According to a survey for the technology firm Olympus, university students in the UK have average attention spans of just 10 minutes. (Seemingly the average length of time a student can concentrate in lectures is around 10 minutes. A third of students blamed lack of sleep and being overworked for this, as many students are forced to take up part-time work. The student bar doesn't help either.)

After coal and iron ore, education is Australia's third largest export. (International students are worth $13bn (£8.1bn) to the Australian economy each year. This position is now at risk though, with a rise in attacks on international students in Melbourne and Sydney, and the recent murder of an Indian student, the number of applications is down.)

One in three students in the East Midlands has been a victim of crime. (A lot of international students don't realise how important it is to stay safe whilst in the UK - http://www.educationuk.org/downloads/safety_1st.pdf)