Misuse of Cambridge University by Indian Leaders

Jeffrey Archer claimed to have an Oxford degree and no-one noticed that he didn't for years and no-one does now - because no-one cares about Oxbridge.

Greasing the right palms helps if you go to University for the same reason you'd join a country club, but a degree doesn't guarantee you anything. Graduates routinely lie about their grades and there are hundreds of 'colleges' and 'schools' affiliated to so called 'prestigious universities' that survive by milking those who are unsuited to academic study but have the money to pay for it. They might be too stupid to spell their own names, but they get the same degree as everyone else.

Fuck Oxford, fuck Cambridge, fuck the hollowness of elitism - people may have cared twenty years ago but a degree is worth barely nothing these days.

Despite, or perhaps because of this, the ability to show your aptitude in other ways is valued. It's obvious that hardly anyone in India would vote for Sonia Ghandi on the basis of where she spent time as a student.

In short, go back to thinking of ways to get people interested in your petty, irrelevant corner of student politics bullshit and let everyone else deal with real world - while you expect them to save you a place in it.

I'm inclined to agree with the above comment, despite understanding the point that it is potentially fraudulant to fake qualifications (in any context).

But, then as has been evidenced by recent stories in the mainstream (UK) press, you can even get a job in Parlaiment these days without your CV being properly checked out - it makes a mockery of all the so-called "anti-terrorist" security measures they're supposed to have there really, doesn't it?!

Anyway, since when have academic qualifications been anything to with whether you get to be a political party leader or not!!??

Most likely it has more to do with having the right 'friends' on the way up the ladder - or, in some cases how good a swing your sword arm has (see Dubya for details on both these counts)!!

I too am currently working (slowly) towards getting a BA, but, I really don't give a damn what employers want from me when it comes to this. For me it's about something more holistic than that - life experience that will enrich the work I'm doing.

You see, these days you can have a degree and still end up on the dole or serving chip butties, because 'the marketplace' is positively saturated with degree holders.
Let's admit it - it's an industry like any other, churning out the graduates like some giant, global factory for academia.

It doesn't mean as much as it used for this very reason.

So, I suggest you get off your high Horse and start worrying about some REAL problems in India - like all the millions of flood victims in Banghladesh, like all the dodgy call centres that exploit global wage differences, or the fact that India and Pakistan both have Nukes pointed at each other, run their missile silos using 1980s computing technology, and don't like each other very much!!

Status, WHAT Status!!??