That " Education " Conundrum !

For a long time we have been warned how robotics and artificial intelligence will change the jobs landscape in Australia.  The future is looking bleak for young people who leave school with just the HSC as their highest level of achievement.  There is immense pressure to go to university and earn the " qualifications " that will provide both job security and a better than average income.

Unfortunately, not every kid finishing school is suitable for an academic career and we now learn that our universities are in trouble. Last year the University of New South Wales lost $ 14.2 million when eight hundred domestic students either dropped out before starting or discontinued early in term.   At the same time, the number of first year international students fell by 222, the statistics reveal.

The solution being considered by the university is to lower the ATAR level to fill those domestic gaps and to further lower the English language proficiency international students must achieve for enrolment.  This flow of international students to Australia to further their education is now one of  our greatest income earners in the field of commerce.

What is becoming clear is that many of the courses provided by our universities will no longer provide an automatic career path.  Years of study may result in knowledge that is no longer relevant as the subject has turned in new directions and what is now needed are the basics to which more depth will be constantly needed to keep track of how that particular discipline is expanding.  In many cases, this leaning process will need to be enhanced over a lifetime.

We are in danger of enticing more people into something that is above their level of competency and causing them to not complete their studies.  They will walk away without a qualification, but saddled with a very large debt.  The courses the universities offer are suited to the way the world was half a century ago rather than the way the world will be as early as a decade into the future.

The number of people dropping out of university studies is a tragedy that sometimes reaches fifty percent.  This attrition rate surely indicates that we need to have a new look at giving entrants the knowledge they need for entry onto a career path and then giving them the opportunities to enhance that knowledge further as their career advances.   The purpose of education is to make someone attractive to an employer by the knowledge gained and enable them to advance in that field as their career progresses.

Universities are probably unsuited for that task and some disciplines are more suited to the university approach - and both law and medicine come to mind.  A short, refresher introduction to some disciplines which would probably take just three months would be better suited to something like a TAFE operation.  The training would need to keep vocational and be tuned to the directions that industry was heading.

Unfortunately, we seem to be heading in the wrong direction if we continue to try and cram students into the existing university routine.   This drop out rate is a sure indication that change is needed and it seems evident that our academics are resisting change.   We will be doing our young people a serious disservice if we fail to bring education into alignment with the needs of their future.