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Are university degrees worth it?



It's exam time and I have decided to write a little piece on a university degree from a current student's point of view.
A survey taken place in the UK in 2015 says half of all students agree their university degree was not worth the thirty something thousand pound debt it left them with. However, records show that over ten thousand more students applied to university last year. 
A similar study was done in Spain, in 2015 there was a record of 1.361.340 students inscribed in university, public and private. Again, the number of college applications has increased while over half or the recent graduates regret their decisions on course or university. 
Sixty percent of graduates in Peru said they regret getting their university degree.

Many of the surveyed pupils say they regret their past decisions due to either they didn't get enough orientation or the course wasn't structured properly.
Students today are demanding more than what they expected when university fees were lower, the professors however have become more inattentive to the work done by students, some admitting they do not correct essays or exams the way they should, but rather mark the paper on the amount written or the first page.

A few days ago, I decided to do a little study myself and asked a number of students if they were happy with their degree and if it met their expectations (we are now solemnly talking of UMA), the majority said they were not. They all said they are studying just because there isn't really many other options and most agreed they didn't think a lot of subjects were relevant to their course. I also asked them what their plan was after graduating or in the next few years, most of them said they were waiting to hear about their Erasmus application, a European exchange scheme, as if it wasn't done, their curriculum wouldn't be all that great. Something a friend of mine studying in England said was not as common as in Spain, and wasn’t that popular academically speaking, although a number of students do participate.

The majority in Spain also assumed they wouldn’t be doing any work experience in their study period and that they would be lucky if they get work after graduating, as most companies ask for experienced young graduates... How do we get experience without being given a chance?

A multitude of Spanish students have already accepted that they are most likely to have to leave Spain to get a start in their career, the majority however want to return as soon as possible to job opening in higher positions. 

With all these cons to getting a degree, I ask myself is it actually worth it? Does it make you wiser? More knowledgeable, sensible or rational? To be honest, I think not. Obviously degrees like medicine, engineering, science and law need a study base and a lot of learning, but many degrees in humanities are talent based, I study advertising and Public Relations, and obviously in the two years I have been studying I have learned things that are relative to my future career but honestly, they could have all been learned without studying the things I studied, and in a lot less time. This is a common thought between students and teachers alike. 

What do you think of the copious amounts of university students and the price they pay for their education? Worth it or not? Feel free to comment. 

Comments

  1. Unknown26 January 2016 at 13:35

    Today's ‘modern’ education system was for the most part created over one hundred years ago. Does that still make it modern?
    As technology follows Moore’s Law in perpetuity, the educational system aimed at this modern and to a degree future arena, has little chance of keeping up. Given that it takes at least 1-2 years to design a course targeted at any new information technologies and the course itself takes 3-5 years to study, the subject matter is essentially 5 years out of date before it begins.
    Which begs the question of ‘Is a university education really worth it?’.
    You will require work experience to get a job which, for the most part you cannot get whilst studying. Like Schrödinger’s Cat, it is a bit of a conundrum!
    University teaches you how to think, how to be part of a team and conversely how to work alone. You learn how to question the so called facts from all sides and then take measure of your findings.
    Can you get by without a degree? Of course you can but it requires more perseverance to get your foot in the door. {from Paul}

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