5th November 2010, 11:02 AM
Archaeology degrees equip graduates with plenty of skills to help them get a job, most of which are necessarily broad based as the great majority of those graduates either have no intention of becoming commercial archaeologist or will run screaming after a very swift dip of their toes in commercial waters.
It is not the job of universities to provide graduates with anything other than a passing aquaintance with a shovel and mattock and its laughable that so many commercial archaeologists think that it is. If we were talking about a vocational course, e.g. the Bournemouth HND, failing to produce funtioning commercial field archaeologists then that's a different matter entirely.
In any case it is probable that the number of academic departments will shrink over the next few years and numbers of students in / graduates out decrease. Many academic dept's may retreat to even more high brow non practical ground as a consequence of shifts in funding, student expectation etc. The consequence being far fewer graduates who have even the slightest aquaintance with field skills.
It is not the job of universities to provide graduates with anything other than a passing aquaintance with a shovel and mattock and its laughable that so many commercial archaeologists think that it is. If we were talking about a vocational course, e.g. the Bournemouth HND, failing to produce funtioning commercial field archaeologists then that's a different matter entirely.
In any case it is probable that the number of academic departments will shrink over the next few years and numbers of students in / graduates out decrease. Many academic dept's may retreat to even more high brow non practical ground as a consequence of shifts in funding, student expectation etc. The consequence being far fewer graduates who have even the slightest aquaintance with field skills.
Happiness depends on ourselves.