In a few weeks, thousands of higher secondary school students will be sitting for their exams and planning the next phase of their education. Many will opt to go to university or a vocational college, much to the satisfaction of their parents. Still, misconceptions about tertiary education persist, and mistakes made by policymakers and students often lead to disillusionment on what acquiring a degree is all about.
University life is often perceived to be one of life’s memorable experiences. One picks a favourite subject, learns from experts, and leaves job- and future-ready.
A few decades ago, it could be assumed that having a degree earned you the respect and admiration of many. Any degree would guarantee a graduate a well-paid job and a successful career path. Still, things have changed.
Forty per cent of people in rich countries decide to go to university even if it means making significant financial and personal sacrifices. Graduates are no longer a rare breed.
Whether one qualifies in anthropology or philosophy or chemical engineering, expectations of a well-paid job and a successful career seem to have no limit. Of course, defining the elements of success can be a very subjective exercise.
Academics argue that they are not in the business of providing highly-skilled employees to industry. They believe that their role is to develop strong personalities, critical thinkers and citizens who love to accumulate and appreciate knowledge.
While the industrialised world is experiencing an unprecedented jobs boom, many employers complain that there is a significant mismatch between the jobs people want and those available. This explains why so many graduates in subjects considered soft options end up underemployed in jobs that do not need workers with a university degree.
In today’s digital-first world, universities and vocational colleges need to teach every generation how to learn, unlearn and relearn – quickly – so they can transform the future of work, rather than be transformed by it.
While it is never a bad idea to follow one’s dreams when planning the next educational phase, students will do well to plan their careers on the realities they will have to face when they leave university.
In many western countries, university students have to pay substantial amounts to acquire a degree. This harsh reality makes a cost-benefit analysis of the different options available more realistic.
While we rank among the top spenders in education, we need to make our tertiary education system more relevant in today’s complex socio-economic realities
Our system of paying stipends to all university students irrespective of the course they choose to follow may prevent undergraduates from planning their studies pragmatically. It may also lead to taxpayers’ money that finances the stipends system not being optimised to give the best return to society.
Bridgewater Resources, a UK human resources consultancy firm, published a schedule of average starting salaries for graduates in different disciplines. In 2018, in the UK, the average starting salary for a graduate was €22,000 in media studies and €23,000 in sociology. Still, a fresh graduate in mechanical engineering could earn €32,500 and an electrical and electronic engineer €30,500.
We need to acknowledge that employers need skills, not just knowledge or title. A 2019 research conducted by the Harvard Business Review found that the number-one reason students have for investing so much time and money in university education is to get a good job, with two-thirds of them seeing “financial stability” as the primary goal.
Those students who ignore the relevance of employability prospects after graduation risk ending up in under-employment, which has become so common in some western countries.
Most employers will continue to make a university degree a requirement for filling vacancies, even if a specific job does not require such a qualification. In an age of global disruption in many industries and unpredictable job evolution, it is hard to argue that the knowledge acquired historically when a person attended university is still relevant.
Many employers have a more realistic vision of dealing with uncertainty caused by technological advancement and political turmoil. They rely more on employing people with high intelligence scores rather than excellent degrees, as they believe that these scores are a much better indicator of job potential. Academic grades are indicative of how much a student has studied. Performance on an intelligence test reflects a student’s ability to learn, reason and think logically.
The economic realities that every country is currently facing call for a paradigm shift in managing our education system. While we rank among the top spenders in education, we need to make our tertiary education system more relevant in today’s complex socio-economic realities.