A degree worth its weight
Shamubeel Eaqub says today’s university students need an education that’s relevant.
Education is a critical part of securing a good job, a good income and a good life. But universities must change to keep delivering on that promise.
The value of an university education is falling. Relative to someone with a school education, the wage premium for a university degree has been steadily trending lower since the early 1990s.
At the same time, students are coming out with larger student debts and need even larger incomes to live in the big cities and afford homes. The university user experience, only known after the fact, is becoming less worthwhile.
As the number of university students has increased, the style of education has shifted – to use a food analogy – from fancy restaurants for the few to fast food for the masses.
Increasing reach is no bad thing, but qualifications have become dumbed down, and narrowly specialised.
In the process, our universities have lost that well rounded education that focuses on logic, philosophy, reasoning, debate and communication.
Increasingly narrow and shallow specialisations open very specific career doors, not the broad array of a more traditional university education.
Yet, the world of work is changing to one that favours transferable skills, with narrow specialisations on top, often acquired in work.
Technological change is rapid and accelerating. Change is faster than ever, but also the slowest it will ever be.
This means that current qualifications, jobs and industries will become obsolete quickly. We will have to continuously add to our education, or risk being left behind like manufacturing workers.
Universities have to provide a better outcome for their customers: the students. The education needs to be at a more fundamental level, giving lifelong skills to reason and communicate.
But also they need to provide lifelong learning, as even graduates will need to upskill or re-skill many times in their life.
Universities need the growth in students to stay financially viable. If students do not see a surefire way a better quality of life through an university education, they will not keep enrolling.
The cost of living in some places is becoming hostile to students, which may push students to other places.
Added to that are demographic, political and fiscal pressures. A growing pool of students at home and from international markets, as well as growing government funding have allowed universities to keep doing the same. But things are changing.
Firstly, we are having fewer babies so there won’t be a natural increase in the number of students in the future.
Universities will have to either compete for international students or teach students many times over their life, rather than just at an early age as we do now.
Politically, the international student market may become difficult. Brexit in the UK and Trump in the US may hint at a political exhaustion over more people from overseas seemingly competing for local resources.
And government funding for education has steadily increased in the post war era. But that trend is not assured. With an ageing population, increasing spending on wrinklies (not saved for) will cut funding in other areas.
Most likely, the cuts will be to services for young people, including education, who tend to vote less than old folk.
University education has been commercialised, but is not commercial. The weaknesses in this area have been papered over by growing local and international student numbers, and more government funding.
Not all universities in New Zealand will survive. We have too many trying to do the same in a small market.
To remain relevant and add value to students, universities will need to become a career partner for their graduates, focus on building a broad base of critical thinking, and top-up specialised knowledge through one’s career.
This article also appears in Landform, the alumni magazine of Eaqub’s old alma mater, Lincoln University.