International pharm students vs home students

[Asterix]

Just wanted to make some points and congratulate international students:

1. They work harder than most UK students
2. They are actually bothered about their degree
3. They don't indulge in drink
4. They don't leave the course midway through
5. They are actually much more talented and have much more basic than UK students

I read a post by Raoul where he stated how hes noticed most UK students leave the course after 2-3 years as they just don't have it in them whereas foreign students stick it out. Just wanted to know what everyone's views on this is? why are Home students so poor, I know it isn't all but the majority. As a result is the standard of graduates going down?


I read this in a recent report from the rpsgb about one pharm school:
-that the School consider introducing a minimum number of marks below which condonement is not allowed. A suggestion is 30%.

40% isn't much, let alone 30!

[Nik]

Just wanted to make some points and congratulate international students:

1. They work harder than most UK students
2. They are actually bothered about their degree
3. They don't indulge in drink
4. They don't leave the course midway through
5. They are actually much more talented and have much more basic than UK students

I have to disagree with all 5 of these points. Of course internationals work hard, its their money being spent at the end of the day. The only reason they might work harder is because they want to be sure of success. Plenty of them are not impartial to a bit (lot) of drink - not all are abstinent. I think there is still the perception that certain students from ethnic backgrounds (indian, chinese, and general south east asia) have a strong work ethic built into them from an early age as education is valued more where they come from. This doesn't mean to say that all pharmacy students are lazy, drunk, don't give a toss about their degree and less talented.

[TigerSwift]

I would like to disagree with all of these as well. I have seen many internation students smoke and drink (even if its against their religion). I don't think they are any more bothered about the degree or their grades than some British students are.

Maybe its just the best performing overseas students come here to study... but we should not dismiss the fact that there are a lof of intelligent and dedicated pharmacy students in the UK. It could be possible that because there are less of the overseas students they stand out more or you only see one or two drop out... but percentage wise this may be the same as the British drop out rate.

And point five is not correct either. When it comes to extra curricular stuff the overseas students are no more involved than UK students. In fact - you don't find many overseas students getting involved in the higher levels of the BPSA or NUS.

[Fleegle]

[QUOTE=Asterix;32286]Just wanted to make some points and congratulate international students:

1. They work harder than most UK students
2. They are actually bothered about their degree
3. They don't indulge in drink
4. They don't leave the course midway through
5. They are actually much more talented and have much more basic than UK students

You gave us all a good laugh with this post Giggsy. I don't have time to reply to all your points immediately, but here's my reply to number 3, 'They don't indulge in drink'...I saw plenty stuff like this when I was at Uni, and that was 25 years ago...

YouTube - drunk asian

PS...Why can no-one spell 'International' ??....(This thread has been moved to 'Student chat' which I think is more appropriate)..go for it lads!

Fleeg.

[dizzyb23]

I have worked with and hopefully helped a huge amount of Pharmacy students and Pre-Reg's over the 22 years i've been in Pharmacy and I haven't noticed any difference in the attitudes of either International or UK students. What I have noticed, however, is the difference in attitudes once said students/pre-reg's finally qualify and begin working as Pharmacists.

[Rafael]

just to clarify something, i have not said that most uk students drop the course on their 2nd year or so. but i did mention that pharmacy is an attractive course for internationals compared to other courses. 50% of my course are internationals, while probably less than 5% apply for vets, arts, languages, history....etc


tiger! what is the religion of 'international students'?

will leave the topic for you guys, not an important subject IMHO and would not like to to seperate home vs international students, of course only when it comes to visa problems, then i have to

Raoul xx

[Rafael]

http://www.bpsa.co.uk/images/noslc.pdf
http://www.bpsa.co.uk/images/noslc.pdf

[johnep]

OK Raoul, just what is the attraction of pharmacy for overseas students?
johnep

[Rafael]

1- a medical related degree is more valued than other courses ( pharmacy, dentistry, medics)
2- a medical course is too long to sign up for! i had an offer from manchester uni to join in for a medical course, rejected it and went for pharmacy
3- arts, history, languages, vets...etc courses are seen as rubbish by internationals, and their parents. believe it or not
4- medicals courses cost 18K/year, pharmacy 10K/year, both are very expensive, but you would not find a lot who can pay 5x 18000 = 90K for education and another 30K for living expenses.

so pharmacy is the only choice left, that provides a good source of income, apart from engineering of course.

[Asterix]

engineers don't have jobs these days!