Do you have to attend degree course?

Ian

Perhaps you could give us a bit more background information to your original question?

David

The proportion of graduates that work in the field in which they qualified is very low.  Somewhere less than a third as I recall.

There does appear to be a theory that, having a degree means that you can do any sort of job.

This probably explains why you see BBC staff reporting on subjects that are not what they did as a degree e.g. the young lady who does the financial bit on BBC Breakfast did some sort of science degree - and this possibly explains why she is clueless about financial issues and her reports are embarrassingly superficial.

In answer to David's question, I gained my qualification by studying in my own time then taking the various exams and then used work experience followed by the final assessment to qualify, again in my own time.

As this qualification is 'higher' than a degree, I just wondered whether the same sort of route could be followed for degrees.

I have always believed that 'real world' experience is far better than the cosseted, detached from real life experience of university and therefore wondered if there was a better way of achieving degrees.

I don't think University degrees offer a cosseted none realistic experience of learning. I did my degree over three decades ago, and was out in the field every year three months of each academic year, putting the lecture room theory and practice into place in a very challenging environment, where each day threw up a different problem, where complex relationships between individuals and established teams had to be negotiated, and where I had to produce an end product that didn't result in injury or death, and leave a sense of achievement in those I worked with. I was grateful for the feedback process from my lecturers and peer group students a well. The social side of being a student was very good as well....!

My boss, who was a Partner with a firm of solicitors (he dealt in Commercial Property), and all other solicitors have to attend seminars all the time and build up a certain amount of points per year to keep their certificate.  If they don't, then they lose their certificate and cannot practice.  The seminars are all about updates in law and anything else

I work at a university and for our course (medicine) plenaries are  not compulsory.  However many other components are such as clinical practice at GP and hospitals.  I've always worried that a doctor wouldn't be able to diagnose an ailment because they didn't attend the lecture one day .

Students are continually assessed throughout the 5 years with final exams before graduating.

Aside from medicine, most degrees only prove you can work at that level and doesn't prove you are more clever than someone without one.

Mmmmm, what are the words I'm looking for. . . .Err, ah I remember-self aggrandizement

You learn a lot on here... 

I'm very flattered that you see my route to qualification as something that might be bragged about, Rocky.

However, unlike many with degrees, I don't see it as something to brag about or to demand to be treated as 'better' than anyone else. It was just a way to advance in my career.

It's called Continuing Prefessional Development (CPD) and is a requirement of a lot of professions, including my own.