Higher education today: your views - Unit 8

C2 Proficiency · Multiple Matching · Close-up C2, National Geographic Learning

You are going to read comments about higher education. For questions 1–10, choose from the people (A–E). The people may be chosen more than once.

A Yasmin

Yasmin

I'm sick and tired of being asked why I'm not doing a 'real' degree. I assure you, I most definitely am. A BA in History is incredibly demanding, yet I've been subjected to snide jibes like, 'Do you want fries with that?' suggesting that my degree will be a fast track to the fast food industry. I consider what I'm doing a significant academic undertaking. It requires serious research and a lot of critical thinking. However, since starting my degree, I struggle to think of a single positive remark which has been made about my choice of course, especially with regards to employment prospects. But why does a degree have to be vocational? Isn't it a sad state of affairs when learning for its own sake is seen as a waste of time? It seems, amongst my peers at least, the only degrees that are immune from this level of scorn are law, medicine and engineering – with everything else being labelled as useless.

B Will

Will

There's a tremendous amount of snobbery in this country when it comes to universities. They all pale in comparison with Oxbridge – those ancient academic institutions, bastions of privilege and superiority. Competition is fierce, but the advantages are immense and – to an outsider – quite unfair. Oxbridge has opened plenty of doors for people whose talents may not have merited such recognition. If you look at politics, you can't fail to notice that membership of this prestigious club is practically compulsory. As for the private sector, it would probably be a dishonest manager or recruiter who admitted to indifference when seeing an application from a candidate hailing from these hallowed halls. But an Oxbridge degree is absolutely no guarantee of ability in the real world. The redbrick universities and former polytechnics, though lacking in prestige, offer today's students opportunities in technical subjects that are more in sync with the real world than the classics at Oxbridge.

C Hanna

Hanna

I take offence when people mockingly refer to my course in Youth Studies as a Mickey Mouse degree. The implication is that I'm not sufficiently clever for more rigorous studies. However, unless you actually undertake the course, you're in no position to question its value; academic or otherwise. It may not be as theory-driven as other courses, but it draws on a variety of disciplines including psychology, criminology, social policy, sociology and politics. I suppose the best way to describe it is an intellectual programme with a strong vocational element. Not only is it interesting in itself, but there is an enormous capacity for youth work in disadvantaged communities across the country and my job prospects are excellent. What I enjoy most about the course are the annual four-week placements with government services for young people. I enjoy putting theories learnt at university into practice and the hands-on experience is making me job-ready. When I land a job straight after graduating, I'll have the last laugh.

D Damien

Damien

University was once seen as a place where adolescents went to satisfy their intellectual curiosity before settling on a job and career. Increasingly, however, students now see a degree as a means to an end. When did the purpose of higher education shift from that idyllic vision, to today's view that it's all about getting a job? I think the introduction of fees has had a lot to do with it. There was a time when university was free, but now we fork out thousands of pounds in tuition. Faced with big loans, students want to be sure they pick a course that leads to a job after graduation. Universities worried about filling seats have accommodated this demand by introducing a range of practical courses; some in fields that didn't even exist five years ago – for example, a bachelor's degree in Social Media. That's the changing face of education today; the shift from established disciplines in favour of new courses and vocational training.

E Lauren

Lauren

I think there's a real crisis in higher education. Far too many new graduates are jobless or in non-graduate jobs, such as security guards, shelf-fillers, factory workers and waiters. It makes you wonder about the value of a university degree, especially when students have to invest in themselves so heavily through tuition fees. I have a friend who's currently working as an office clerk. She took a degree in applied computer science, an industry that is crying out for good graduates. She told me that although the quality of teaching on her course was high, it wasn't linked closely enough with what the labour market was looking for. The feedback she got from prospective employers was that they were looking for applicants who could work in teams with people from different disciplines; something her studies hadn't prepared her for. It suggests that universities should work closely with industry in order to better prepare their students for employment.

Higher education today: your views

There are people who may not be deserving of their positions.

Universities are no longer places for individual discovery.

Making judgements on things you know nothing about is wrong.

Being told you will only qualify for a menial job is frustrating.

There is pressure on universities to maintain student numbers.

Joblessness amongst graduates raises questions about degrees.

The majority of degrees are perceived to have little worth.

Newer institutions offer instruction in areas of greater practicality.

Applying knowledge to real-life situations improves job prospects.

There is a disconnection between course content and job demands.

Which person gives each of these opinions about higher education?

Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.

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