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 🙂

Nice article Becky, this is my opinions,

For certain fields (Medicine, Law etc) it’s near impossible to go far without a degree. For most other fields it isn’t essential, there will be people who read this blog and knows someone who succeeded without one. However a degree can give you though is a massive head start. As stated in your article, 2.1 degree seems to be a common criteria for 90% of Graduate schemes. These schemes are very well paid (considering the lack of practical experience the grad has), they have a lot of training and they often fast track an individual up the corporate ladder.

To get a Grad Scheme you do definitely need something else. A classic example of this is competency interviews, these are common at graduate level Interviews. You are asked 4-12 questions like,
When have you had a solution to a complex problem?
To answer these questions is impossible unless you have done a few work experiences/ part time jobs/ valid extra curricular activities. So in conclusion I would say that certainly to attain a highly competitive graduate programme a degree is not enough.

Obviously graduate schemes aren’t the be all and end all, but they are an obvious advantage of having a degree.

The question is, considering that University is supposed to be an education in specialist a subject, why should it be their responsibility to find experience for the students????

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 got a 2:2 in BA (hons) Business Management which I got in 2004. I still owe the SLC £10,000.00. I am still at square one not earning more than others who didn’t do a degree. The problem is the Government are telling people to go to university when there are not the jobs available at the end of the course. It has been like this for years even before the 2008 financial crisis hit.

It appears to me that for the last 20 years the Government has had this stupid policy of allowing British jobs to go overseas to places such as India and China. In order to prevent embarrassing unemployment figures the Government just tells people to stay at school for as long as possible. So in response for the last 20 years the Government has been telling people to go to university. When I have been to job interviews and tell employers I have a degree they do not seem interested. The Government is using Universities to train people up for jobs that simply do not exist. It is a waste of UK taxpayers and students money.

I feel that I have wasted my time and my money doing a degree. Young people such as myself have been sold a pup. There are several stories in the media of those who have completed a university degree and are working in pubs, bars supermarkets etc because there are no jobs requiring the degree they have completed. This University thing that the Government is peddling is the biggest red herring ever. The best thing the Government could do is spend taxpayer funds on training people up for jobs that actually exist and also work on bringing the jobs back to Great Britain that have been outsourced overseas. The problem we have isn’t a shortage of graduates but a shortage of jobs. When are the Government going to get their act together ?

I understand that you only start to repay the loan when you are earning over £21,000.00. Since when was £21K a big wage! I would have thought you shouldn’t have to repay anything until you are earning at least £30,000.00. That would be far more sensible. I also think that it is a high rate of tax to be paying 20% + 9% = 29% income tax with NI on top.

It is irrelevant what this debt is called just focus on what I have outlined above to get things moving in the right direction. Question is when are the politicians going to wake up and get on with it ?

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.