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Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

Maybe Oxford is a little slower to adopt 'fad' majors. Computer science was invented in 1965 at Carnegie Mellon. Only 50 years have passed - Oxford is just noticing this modern field and may come to accept it as a lasting discipline in another 50?

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From Wikipedia:

> The world's first computer science degree program, the Cambridge Diploma in Computer Science, began at the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory in 1953. The first computer science degree program in the United States was formed at Purdue University in 1962.

Well at commencement CM claimed to have invented CS programs. Just sayin.

Oxbridge follows the British consensus that values general education more than the specialist fields. If you want the best engineering education in the UK you go to Imperial College.

To those who read this, this statement is completely incorrect. It's actually very interesting how (in general) Britain's degrees are far more specialised from far earlier (than the US), and this is no different for either Oxford or Cambridge. I won't comment on the fanboyism :)

Well, the impression I have is that Oxbridge is for scientist and theoreticians, while Imperial is for the profession studies - engineering and medicine, basically.

I got the generalist thing from here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11136511

I find it really interesting that you say this. My perspective as an American was that it was more the other way around. For example, in my undergrad field (physics), people in the UK seem to take fewer courses outside of physics and closely related fields and have less choice in their courses. My understanding was that people there typically came out with a bit deeper specialized physics knowledge but less generalized education.

Do you happen to have any handy links to where I could read more about the British valuation of general education and how it differs from the American approach?

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