Hi All,
I attended the Open Day on 30th November - Cranfield does look impressive with some good facilities, the airfield is directly attached to the University with 3 flight schools operating there.
But Cranfield University is EXTREMELY isolated - both Milton Keynes and Bedford are some distance away. A car is definately a must for this place.
Lots of talk about accomodation, facilities, scholarships (based on merit)......
We then split into groups based on the subject areas we were interested in...
I raised the issue of professional experience and asked if it would be considered in lieu of a degree - the reply was that I'd have to have 3 or 4 years mid-mangagement level experience in the industry to be considered - students from an academic background WHATEVER degree they have with no or little experience seem to have a better chance at entry (provided they have a genuine interest in aviation) - it seems clear they prefer the academically proven for this course. However, don't enthusiasm and determination count? real-life experience? Relevant Decision-Making in this day and age? Apparently not - a degree is required.
Male/Female ratio - even on the open day it looked like 10:1!
Alumni Network/Society - Efforts are made by the Uni to keep in touch with all alumni whether full-time or part-time students, and apparently a lot of speakers are ex-students who are now doing well for themselves in the industry.
(Rigas Doganis was an ex-student here, went to Olympic, now at easyJet - can't help but think he took the position with easyJet because of Luton being quite close to his old Uni perhaps! In fact his daughter or neice is at Cranfield now)
Graduate Employability - this was played on all session - most students in relavant employment within 6 months....but posts in pprune contradict this...hhmmm....
Annual intake - 30 or so students - 20 offers have already gone out, leaving 10 or so (assuming all 20 offers are excepted) before the course starts in Oct '06.
The open day itself was not so well organised - a rushed tour, no tour of the library at all, course directors/personnel spoke to groups, with very little time individually.
A few ppruners here referred to the fact that the department staff jet away on consultancy projects around the world and so lectures and modules have to be rearranged - I raised this point and lo and behold they agreed that yes this does sometime happen!
I also raised the point that although the Uni play on the fact that this MSc is very much Air Transport related/specific, this may actually be a disadvantage - there are many leaders in this industry that have not come from an aviation background. I pointed out that the course may infact be too specific, and that other 'transport' courses across the country serve better. The Course Director didn't disagree, but examples were raised where students had entered non-aviation related fields from this course.
Course fees circa £3300 for Home/EU students - God knows what it is for non-EU students.....
150 applications or so for 30 places was the figure quoted - again seems quite low - 5 applications to 1 place - you'd think it'd be a lot higher wouldn't you?
I hope this helps. Please put forward any suggestions you have if you wish.
Abdel