If it looks too good to be true....it probably is too good to be true

Of course we all want the best return on our investments but by their nature, returns come in the future and may not bear any resemblence to past returns and if we do not do our homework properly and use common sense then the returns may never come.

Good research and asking lots of questions is the way to reduce risk of disappointment or loss - a lesson learned the hard way as reported by Bloomberg in respect of the Chinese super-bus project TEB.

Was it a PONZI scheme?  was it a simple case of "buyer beware" for frustrated Chinese investors?

Universities can learn lessons from this - and many are.  League tables and metric based indicators such as graduate employment rates and NSS scores show past performance of other people in different economic conditions.

What today's astute student needs to do is to ask lots of questions about how these metrics are achieved, whether thise factors have changed - in fact, whether the investment is likely to pay off.

Now, I'm not suggesting that any Universities are running Ponzi schemes but they do need to embrace not only social media (in an honest and not corporate way), They need to have Tasters and Open events so that prospective students can really feel the fabric.  The experience pre-University needs to be authentic so that more round pegs are placed in round holes and pure metrics (and here we can include A level grades) are treated with the weight they deserve.