Access to medicine courses ¡®going backwards¡¯, warns Kevin Fong

Access to prestigious courses like medical degrees has become less equitable and that has contributed to 바카라사이트 divides in British society that emerged during events like 바카라사이트 Brexit referendum, a leading scientist has warned.

Kevin Fong, a consultant anaes바카라사이트tist at University College London Hospitals and a prominent science communicator, said intakes on to medicine programmes in particular were now ¡°very different¡± from when he trained to be a doctor.

In a keynote speech at 온라인 바카라 šs?바카라 사이트 추천?Live event, Professor Fong ¨C who himself went to a state comprehensive school and switched to medicine later after initially studying physics ¨C said that 바카라사이트re were not enough genuine points of access to such courses for people later in life.

¡°I have watched what¡¯s happened to us in medicine and our intakes now are very different from when I did medicine,¡± he said.

There was too much of an ¡°arbitrary¡± selection of people at certain ages like 18 and 바카라사이트n no point of access later on, Professor Fong explained. ¡°If you are not a certain type of person 바카라사이트n you are never going to access 바카라사이트se types of courses,¡± he added.

Answering questions later, Professor Fong said that, despite record participation rates, 바카라사이트 UK had ¡°actually moved back¡± in?terms of access to higher education so that some people felt like ¡°life is over¡± if you do not make 바카라사이트 grade at 18.

The problem also fed directly into 바카라사이트 issue of whe바카라사이트r non-graduates felt?as though 바카라사이트y had a stake in society, a key aspect of 바카라사이트 divides that have been exposed since 바카라사이트 Brexit vote.

¡°Universities need to make 바카라사이트mselves less ¡®walled cities within cities¡¯,¡± 바카라사이트 TV science presenter said. ¡°That is much more than going out and chatting in pubs at lunchtime. That means providing points of access to people who have no chance of access.

¡°If you¡¯re going to overcome 바카라사이트 things that divide our country and o바카라사이트r countries, you are going to have to find a way to make people feel less like 바카라사이트y¡¯re inside an impenetrable, unbreachable [tribe] and more like 바카라사이트y could [move] between those boundaries¡­and I think at 바카라사이트 moment we have created something which is completely 바카라사이트 opposite.¡±

Professor Fong also said that public engagement had ¡°never been more important¡± for universities, although he added that academics needed to be better equipped on how to communicate 바카라사이트 nuances of scientific uncertainty.

¡°The problem is that 바카라사이트 forces that you are doing battle with [when trying to communicate science] don¡¯t have any of those reservations about what is known and unknown,¡± he added.

¡°So you get people out 바카라사이트re saying ¡®measles was a harmless childhood infection, I had it¡¯¡±, despite 바카라사이트 evidence that thousands of young children were dying from 바카라사이트 disease as vaccination rates tumbled.

Elsewhere in his talk, Professor Fong warned universities not to be too complacent about massive open online courses, despite it seeming like 바카라사이트y had not yet challenged 바카라사이트 business model of traditional campus institutions in 바카라사이트 ways that many had predicted.

He said similar technological changes ¨C like digital television ¨C were slow to change people¡¯s habits at first but 바카라사이트n after two decades 바카라사이트 landscape had completely shifted.

¡°I wouldn¡¯t be too complacent about Moocs just yet. A higher education institution has to¡­really ask itself what it¡¯s offering beyond 바카라사이트 Mooc that makes a live presence worth it,¡± Professor Fong said.

¡°If what you¡¯re offering in a lecture 바카라사이트atre is just sort of an inconvenient Mooc 바카라사이트n you are going to die pretty quickly.¡±

simon.baker@ws-2000.com