Does a university undergraduate degree lead to a ‘good job?’ It depends

Universities are central to Canada’s economic growth.

As a result, governments (which partially fund them), employers (who hire graduates) and students (who pay tuition fees) have come to view universities as a tool to achieve their own goals: economic growth, a productive workforce and good jobs after graduation.

Yet, the increasing focus on training undergraduates for specific jobs or as economic entrepreneurs — not only in traditional professional degrees in STEM, such as engineering but across all university programs — shortchanges all parties involved.

IS EDUCATION ONLY TO BE ‘ENDURED’?

Positioning jobs as the paramount outcome of a degree strips away opportunities for students to explore their passions and interests and instead frames education as something they must endure — as they focus on packaging themselves as marketable brands.

Even while the spectre of employment precarity and debt hang over students, and despite trends towards work-ready undergraduate programs, it’s often only after students have earned an undergraduate degree that they know their career aspirations — and seek education to bolster a workplace role that fits them.

One result is that a master’s degree is becoming the new bachelor’s degree in terms of advancing one’s employment prospects. Students who have pursued their interests during their undergraduate years enter master’s or second-entry programs with a base of general non-workplace knowledge.

This knowledge base comes not only from their undergraduate coursework or weekly job fairs. Rather, it primarily comes after taking advantage of all that universities offer without the pressures of wondering how any assignment, course or program is related to a future job.

SHIFTING MISSIONS AND PURPOSES TODAY

Universities have become critical engines of national, regional and local innovation and research that have to manage new expectations from governments, employers and students. In the past decade, post-secondary institutions have also become a means to attract high-performing immigrants.

As governments link university funding to labour market outcomes using various performance measures, universities are in danger of becoming job preparation academies.

Employers seek graduates ready to enter the workplace, even while labour advocates point to stronger models for on-the-job-training seen in other countries such as Germany.

PRESSURES ON STUDENTS

Many high school students face intense pressure to be accepted into an undergraduate program that promises a good job after graduation.

Not surprisingly, given the context, many students, prodded by parents, select programs with the words such as “business,” “technology” and “information” in the title. Across Canada, humanities enrolments have declined, while applications to science, engineering and business programs have increased steadily.

These programs are oversubscribed, allowing universities to charge deregulated fees that are much higher than fees for most other undergraduate BA and B.SC. programs. After graduation, students may find they are qualified for highly competitive entry-level positions that scarcely appeal to their interests.

EDUCATION AS TOOL?

Until the mid-1970s, unemployment rates were low. Many graduates found jobs relatively easily after graduation as the economy boomed and the public sector — such as education — expanded.

Any program of study would most likely lead to a job, and to further opportunities.

The reverse is the case now: competition for good jobs is fierce and sometimes international in nature, resulting in intensive economic and social pressure.