University grads are getting jobs
This fall, thousands of students entered or returned to Canadian universities. By the time they graduate, they will have grown intellectually, socially and emotionally — and they’ll expect that growth to help them start a career. Yet, they’re bombarded by stories of unemployed or underemployed university graduates. Everyone seems to know, or has heard about, a graduate living in their parents’ basement or working as a barista, despite possessing a bachelors degree. If this were true in significant numbers, it would be cause for alarm. But the facts suggest otherwise.
New research shows 93% of Ontario undergrads who graduated in 2011, were able to get jobs within two years; more than 88% said their university education was relevant to their work. Employment rates for my own institution, Brock University, are even higher than the average, despite Niagara’s regional economy being weaker than the Ontario norm. Longer-term data are also positive, showing that a degree in just about any discipline results in more sustained employment over one’s life, and higher lifetime earnings than any other education.
Since most students pursue degrees that are not professional in orientation, why are the employment figures so resilient? There are several reasons why graduates with bachelors degrees, in disciplines from English literature to business, do well in the job market.
First, the competitive administration process admits far fewer students than the number of those who apply, signifying that they are among the best and the brightest in our society. Once accepted, students follow programs that demand, not just ever-more intellectual prowess as they proceed beyond first year, but ever-more degrees of self-discipline, self-efficacy and organization, as they progress through four-plus years of study.
Universities also act as a filter of talent for employers, and a refining crucible for students. Whatever their area of study or its relevance to specific jobs, students are transformed by the undergraduate experience and the demands placed on them. If they cannot achieve this personal evolution (and today’s universities provide multiple supports to help those having difficulty), they will not be awarded a degree, and the winnowing process comes back into play.
Finally, undergraduates learn what it takes to acquire in-depth knowledge of a specific subject area. Starting with a “50,000-foot view” in introductory courses, they gain a growing appreciation in later courses of how knowledge is generated,
We’ve been bombarded with
stories of unemployed graduates, but the facts suggest
otherwise
critiqued and renewed. Whether this is done in history or biology is of little consequence, because the mind — like a mill — needs grist with which to work and spur the mind’s development. The grist can come from any subject area. The results are the traits and work habits valued by employers, in a wide range of situations.
This can all be said of just about any Canadian university. It’s the classical concept of an undergraduate education and its benefits. But modern programs go even further by incorporating technology and giving students real-world work experiences, through work terms or internships, to integrate course-based learning with experience-based learning.
There is a wry expression I learn- ed while working as an academic in Quebec: “It works in practice, but does it work in theory?” Behind the witticism is a salient observation: Intellectual study coupled with “real experience” among other people is a powerful combination. Acting with others in the field accelerates social and emotional maturity, and positively affects how we use our intellect.
Of course, this is hardly new. Lawyers and physicians once trained, not by attending law school or medical school, but by apprenticing with established lawyers or physicians. For years now, professional schools and their associated professions have required both, and today university co-op programs and other forms of experiential learning extend such dual educational benefits to many subject areas.
The key to these trends, beginning with co-op education, is that the dual experiences are not consecutive (as in, first you go to school, then you gain experience in an internship). Rather, formal study and experiential learning strengthen each other concurrently. It is this “playing off one another” that elevates the maturation process at the intellectual, social and emotional levels all at once.
Years ago, my own institution embraced co-op education. Today, it is the fifth-largest co-op program in Canada, spanning disciplines from accounting to viticulture to history. We made experiential learning a hallmark because it adds value for students and for the community around them, whether our grads seek further training at a college or from an employer. That certainly has something to do with our above-average employment data for graduates.
Universities must never stop striving to improve our processes. But this latest batch of employment numbers suggest we’re doing some key things very well. Jack Lightstone is the president and vice-chancellor of Brock University in
St. Catharines.