Uni degrees are losing their prestige

[ninwa]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26320735-421,00.html

STUDENTS fear their degrees are losing value because too many school leavers are enrolling at university.
Some student leaders say HSC students should be urged to stay away so unis can become more elite.

[Gloamglozer]

^I would love to skip university.^  But only on one condition:

1.  If you 100% guarantee I'll end up like Lindsay Fox (ie. without a tertiary education and still be able to thrive in the 21st century and beyond).

EDIT:  On a more serious note, given the competition these days, it's pretty much impossible to go anywhere in the corporate world without:

1.  Connections
2.  A uni degree.

[hard]

OMG i was reading that like 2 hrs ago

[TrueLight]

hm yeah its true
i posted something on this in 'How government programs drive up college tuitions'

[/0]

"Some student leaders say HSC students should be urged to stay away so unis can become more elite."

Hahahahahahahaha oh wow, that made my day

[Collin Li]

^I would love to skip university.^  But only on one condition:

1.  If you 100% guarantee I'll end up like Lindsay Fox (ie. without a tertiary education and still be able to thrive in the 21st century and beyond).

EDIT:  On a more serious note, given the competition these days, it's pretty much impossible to go anywhere in the corporate world without:

1.  Connections
2.  A uni degree.

I wouldn't say impossible, and I think #1 is more important than #2.

But in a good way.

I don't mean your aristocratic connections (family roots, etc.). You can network with people -- sometimes hard to do with big companies unless you're in a university because they have university networking events, but be more creative than that... if that's your goal, then a university degree is for you then. But there are so many problems in the world that can be solved, you can be creative.

Some problems aren't even self-evident. Think bottled water -- who would have thought anyone needed that?

If you can solve a need, whether it be a market need, an employer's need or a person's need -- you're in a safe spot. You just need to understand how to market yourself and sell yourself.

A degree as well as good communication and networking skills are both just as important as each other in terms of getting your foot in the door. Communication and networking skills remain important afterwards, and education becomes irrelevant (eclipsed by experience).

Of course, this depends on what you do. But I am speaking in general, which means the degree is not the be-all end-all (basically for anything non-academic, which excludes law, medicine, engineering, and PhD's obviously).

Ultimately, I'm a strong advocate of "University is not for everyone" and I think more students should think about this. Am I just doing this because everyone else? There's nothing wrong with that, unless it's led by herd mentality rather than by network effects. And in the next few decades, the face of education will shift into more pliable and flexible forms -- universities may fall behind to remain only as beacons of science and research while YouTube and other forms of communication become the norm for education. A small blueprint for education in the future.

[xXNovaxX]

That is the most SELFISH thing I have ever read (the article)

"to stay more elite"

Ah yeah, ensure SOME students can SHINE, whilst the "others" wither away.

And then they wonder why there are discrepancies between levels of education.

I don't believe in prestige, you get wealth/prospects/ a career from what you make OUT OF YOUR DEGREE.

[QuantumJG]

That is the most SELFISH thing I have ever read (the article)

"to stay more elite"

Ah yeah, ensure SOME students can SHINE, whilst the "others" wither away.

And then they wonder why there are discrepancies between levels of education.

I don't believe in prestige, you get wealth/prospects/ a career from what you make OUT OF YOUR DEGREE.

Sorry about reviving this thread, but, I think this is the most selfish article EVER (basically I share xXNovaxX's view)! So in a nutshell it's saying: "hey gen Y kids, stop going to uni some people are worried their degree looks 'less prestigious'".

I have some things to say about thus:

- This takes away one's right to pursue what they want to do.
- Having a uni degree is the norm to getting a decent job.
- If students have worked their buts off to get an ENTER score to do a degree, then why tell them not to do a degree?
- you guys want a prestigious degree, do some graduate degree like a masters or PhD.

Times have changed and having a degree is the norm, who ever agrees with this article "try telling someone to not do a degree".   

   

[Eriny]

I think it's also quite absurd to argue that having a population with better skills makes us worse off.

[Collin Li]

It's no surprise that learning, R&D and innovation have the opportunity costs of "just doing it" (i.e.: working right now).

We have to make a trade-off between present utilisation of resources (static efficiency) and future payoffs from learning, R&D and innovation on the future utilisation of resources (dynamic efficiency).

And so arguing that more people should hold degrees is not as set in stone as you might think.

[QuantumJG]

It's no surprise that learning, R&D and innovation have the opportunity costs of "just doing it" (i.e.: working right now).

We have to make a trade-off between present utilisation of resources (static efficiency) and future payoffs from learning, R&D and innovation on the future utilisation of resources (dynamic efficiency).

And so arguing that more people should hold degrees is not as set in stone as you might think.

I personally say that the opportunity costs aren't that high (read the article I added). At the same time I don't want to feel like someone who forces people to do degrees. But this topic isn't about degree opportunity costs or forcing people to do degrees, its about telling people that some people are upset that demand for degrees is making their own degree look tarnished.

I personally believe that people should choose anything that they want to do. Whether thats a degree or not, what ever suits someone. I don't think anyone here is actually saying more people should do a degree (I'm not), but if you compared now with say the 70's, you had more things open to you without degrees. Times have changed.