How should British Archaeology be run

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rather than expecting people to be trained by someone else at no expense to them and delivered on a plate.

I pay my taxes to educate them just like everybody else. And that education involves subsidised university education.

Interesting that suddenly

I *think* you are saying that the purpose of University's should be purely
to provide a technical, vocational training for those working in the commercial
world- ie. this is basically what David Willetts and the Torys (and to be fair
Labour under people like Charles Clarke) argued universities. From that point of
view the point of HE is purely to support business. I'm afraid I disagree quite
profoundly with that perspective - but that is a bigger philosophical arguement.

no its not a bigger question or if you want to put it another way if you are not going to privide a technical vocational training what the hell do you think you are provideing. As you said these posibly 75 possibly relevant jobs going what have you done to the other two thousand qraduates because its those that you are really teaching and who are not ever likely to compete with you.

That Nick clegg I think did a bit of archaeology skirting

For a start, there is the rather quaint old fashioned idea that learning about the past (or indeed any aspect of science or the humanities) is inherently of value

thats not a start its a bloody miserable up its self excuse .

I think you paint a pretty bleak image of what a university should be - a
machine for training commercial fieldarchaeologist- but one that is depressingy
well in tune with the current administration and its agenda for Higher
Education.

Hay come round my way and I can show you hundreds of grovalling cvs set to me a one man cowboy out fit asking to be my pet. Thats because its harsh out there and that what harsh means. Reduced to sending me CVs.

Finally, as Wax pointed out- University field units are definitely not
subsidised- quite the opposite

In my world we have accounts, want to show me some from the wonderful fantisy university field unit.

On a practical note, if archaeology courses were meant to provide purely
vocational skills and feed people into the archaelogical jobs market, then we'd
need one perhaps two maximum, archaeology departments in the whole UK - (proving
c. 75-100 new employees each year).

On the practicle side that means that about ninty percent of the university so called archaeology courses should close down and those left have an incredibly big finger to pull out of where they have enjoyed putting it for the last 20 years

Your fired