Recalibrating University Degrees.

A university degree is fast becoming an expensive trap for many young people.  The problem is the matter learned is more applicable to the workplace needs of Australia fifty years ago than it fits in to the world of today. That now applies to a smaller number of professions and in the wider workforce that degree no longer guarantees both a job and an above average income.

The problem is that the market place has changed - and the university thinking hasn't.  It is still geared to a four year grind with a degree at the outcome.  In that four years so many industries have so progressed that what has been learned is now out of date.  This learning process is fast becoming a learning evolution that progresses over a lifetime.

Fortunately, university thinking is changing.  The need for relevance has senior university people considering " bite size " degrees with the option of students returning to university on a regular basis to expand their knowledge in tune with what is happening in the market place.

One of the outcomes that need to be addressed is cost.   The present system is delivering degrees with the student saddled with a bill that can run to a hundred thousand dollars, to be repaid when his or her earnings reach an agreed level.  We are seeing an appalling " drop out " epidemic which at some universities can reach very near fifty-percent of those sitting some courses.   That bill still applies and we are seeing an ever increasing number of Australians with no degree - and no job.

University study needs to be within the financial grasp of the masses and that probably means  a wider number of online students in relation to those earning their degree in the " hallowed halls ".  In fact, the future probably involves a mix of online learning and practical sessions where a physical presentation aids understanding.  Demonstration can be a big part of this learning mix.

This change of direction will deeply affect the outlook of the universities.  The intent will be to equip students with sufficient knowledge to make them both interesting and rewarding to employ by prospective industry employers and to progressively increase that knowledge by returning to university to study the latest industry progression as it is happening.  University tutors and lecturers will need to be keeping abreast of this progress as it happens.

In particular, universities will need to keep abreast of where job opportunities are heading. In the world of computer engineering for a long time the progress was in chip technology where fitting ever smaller function ability was the aim.  Today there is a shortage of coders who bring advancing systems into use by making algorithms function to produce output.  That would be an area of learning that would produce job outcomes.

Fortunately, the universities are not resisting change.  Relevance is a modern world is ever changing and the problems of both cost and outcome need to be addressed.  The university of the future will most likely combine the needs of both students and industry.