Is a university degree enough these days?

When I started working in the early 80s a degree was stated as a requirement to get a “better” job. Odd how the senior managers and directors don’t possess like. By the time the company started failing (around 2006/7), they’d moved on to requiring MBAs , MAs or Phds, a bachelors wasn’t seen as being highly prized enough to be able to command the ludicrous fees we were charging. Yet bachelors degrees where still good enough in the Far East offices, who would still be charged out at the same rate as the highly qualified UK staff, Odd that ( and they wondered why we were failing).

My daughter’s now closing in on getting a degree, not sure what benefit that will be . But as long as she’s happy and enjoying, good for her. Oh and she’s hoping to go on to do a Masters, although I suspect only to be able to point out she’s better qualified than I am. As she hates playing the hands up if you’ve got a degree game 🙂

University was partly about imparting knowledge, but importantly about developing the ability to acquire and use knowledge and to investigate constructively. This, then, was designed to produce people who would be good at entering into a job role (commercial, service or academic) and progressing successfully. It was not the only route available but gave employers a means of judging likely ability.

Then the system expanded rapidly by turning colleges into universities and introducing courses of doubtful value. The result was a lot more graduates but inevitably the standards in some cases were reduced. Employers will be choosy about picking from the better universities and courses, inevitably resulting in others finding it more difficult to automatically find the job they would like. Activities other than academic, including work experience, outside interests and so on will help support entry into a job.

Choice of university and course seems crucial in making a more assured future, and getting your choice is down to innate ability plus hard work through school. In other words, effort is the best way to be rewarded.

I have been waiting for someone to mention ‘dumbing down’. Anyone who does not believe that this has happened should discuss this with friends involved in higher education. Dumbing down and grade inflation (as a result of pressure to award higher class degrees) means that anyone going to university should set their sights high and aim for a First Class degree. Scraping through, having had to do resits or repeat a year, is not going to look good when applying for a job.

In the past, graduates were given only a degree classification. It is now common to give marks for every module, allowing graduates to provide evidence of where their strength lies.

Obviously it is useful to get inside information about a degree course from current students. Those in their final year are likely to be far better informed and know how to balance achievement with having fun at university. It’s important to look at the actual degree course and not just the overall reputation of the university.

Stephen, as I said, you are responsible for your own decisions. Don’t delegate these to the Government. You have to assess your own options. Yiou are no more entitled to a job than anyone else – whether through an academic, trade or other route. A job needs to be won. If one of your choice is not immediately available then earning money and experience through a less desirable occupation – albeit hopefully temporary – will help keep the wolf from the door.

Stephen

I agree that fewer students should be going to university, though my main justification is that a fair number don’t have the necessary motivation and aptitude to do do well. Universities cannot afford to chuck out too many students because they would lose income. The priority is to keep as many students as possible rather than help good students achieve their potential.

One day you may learn that job satisfaction and achievement are far more important than job satisfaction.