University degree not worth as much as touted

mitchaa

carolt wrote: »

Hope it works out for you.

OH's cousin was exactly the same as you, trained in his job, good pay - made redundant last year. Company closed down UK production. Not trained for anything else - what else can he do?

Just bought a house recently, got married, wife won't let him move elsewhere - not a good situation to be in.

Just to point out, university/broader education can be good when your lifeplan doesn't work out quite as smoothly as you hoped.

I agree with you to a point Carol. I suppose it depends on what kind of profession you are in and if any of it is transferrable to other sectors. Although my own is specific to aircraft, there is a lot of mechanical and electrical engineering in there that would be transferrable to other engineering sectors so im not overly worried should the worst happen.

Sometimes the only route into a career is by having a degree. For example in the near future all new NHS nurses will be required to have that bit of paper...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6913368.ece

If I wanted to go up the management structure in my role, I mean director level, I suspect I would need higher education management qualifications so there are of course limits in certain professions as to how 'high' you can go.

Really2

carolt wrote: »

Because in the case of the example I gave, he only knows how to build aircraft - it's extremely specialised and not transferable.

A degree - whether you think it's fair or not - does give you the opportunity to apply for all jobs that state they require a graduate.

So if you do a degree in biochemistry work at a biochemists for 10 years+ and it closes and there are no local positions for biochemists how is it different?

You cant just say I have a degree I can be a (job) and earn the same money.

The degree would not protect you from the situation being identical and life changing.

In reality you would have to take a lesser job or move to a place which need biochemists.

Lets not forget some people with degrees can not get some jobs as they are deemed below them, that is not fair in my eyes but it happens. I can't see a degree making a difference in mid wales or the fare NW if you cant travel tbh.
A degree in most cases is one part of the puzzle that is being successful in employment.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

I have an Arts degree from a redbrick uni, and also one in Science from the Open Uni obtained during my 20s. I don't think the OU is promoted as much as it could be to younger learners. It's much cheaper than the conventional option and can be fitted round a regular job, and offers much greater flexibility on combining modules. On OU field trips I was usually the youngest there, and was really impressed with the range of interesting people I met. Many were housewives or retired folk; not studying simply for the sake of future pound signs, but for the sake of knowledge and active minds. I find the thought of studying being valued only in terms of potential salary quite depressing.

ukcarper

Another problem is the lack of opportunities for people who haven’t got a degree. I left school back in the sixties with one O level but got an apprenticeship. Then for the first 3 years I spent 3 months full time at a technical college and then I went on to day release. So long as I passed the exams I could go on to the next level. It would be very difficult to do that now.

[Deleted User]

One thing that I noticed at Uni is that those that didn't do very well ended up going into management.

So those that loved computing and had real aptitude for it went on to be software engineers - often getting lower pay than their less able classmates.

If you become too narrow and specialised after uni that might create problems when trying to venture into another field further down the line. But often what employers look for is ability to learn - the education itself, and they don't mind too much what field your degree is in.

carolt

Really2 wrote: »

So if you do a degree in biochemistry work at a biochemists for 10 years+ and it closes and there are no local positions for biochemists how is it different?

You cant just say I have a degree I can be a (job) and earn the same money.

The degree would not protect you from the situation being identical and life changing.

In reality you would have to take a lesser job or move to a place which need biochemists.

Lets not forget some people with degrees can not get some jobs as they are deemed below them, that is not fair in my eyes but it happens. I can't see a degree making a difference in mid wales or the fare NW if you cant travel tbh.
A degree in most cases is one part of the puzzle that is being successful in employment.

My MIL is a case in point - first class degree in biochemistry, took time out to have kids, went back to work many years later (and after getting a PHD), still no work experience, in medical admin - couldn't have got her job without a degree. The fact she's been out of the job market for years didn't matter - the degree proved she was of sufficient calibre and had the subject-specific knowledge.

carolt

ukcarper wrote: »

Another problem is the lack of opportunities for people who haven’t got a degree. I left school back in the sixties with one O level but got an apprenticeship. Then for the first 3 years I spent 3 months full time at a technical college and then I went on to day release. So long as I passed the exams I could go on to the next level. It would be very difficult to do that now.

That's so true. Times have changed. My parents were able to become professionals (accountant & solicitor) with nothing more than O Levels. Couldn't do that now.

In that sense, degrees have been devalued - getting a degree now is seen as as basic a requirement as O Levels were then.

Really2

ukcarper wrote: »

Another problem is the lack of opportunities for people who haven’t got a degree. I left school back in the sixties with one O level but got an apprenticeship. Then for the first 3 years I spent 3 months full time at a technical college and then I went on to day release. So long as I passed the exams I could go on to the next level. It would be very difficult to do that now.

Spot on. I think that is the OP's point if everyone has a degree flipping burgars is a degree related job.

If employment does not require a degree (eg flipping a burger) for every one taking a degree and not going to a job that requires a degree it is just devaluing a degrees value.

It is deflationary to degree related wages. If 50% of children are going to Uni when are we going to have 50% of jobs needing degrees?

When I was younger degrees were very career related (law, teaching, bichemistry etc) that now seems to be lost and you should now have a degree for the sake of it.
Not sure if that is good or bad, but it can't be very productive for the country as a whole.

carolt

On the contrary, surely an educated workforce has been proved to be good for the economy as a whole? Compared to our global competition?

StevieJ

carolt wrote: »

On the contrary, surely an educated workforce has been proved to be good for the economy as a whole? Compared to our global competition?

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]George Stephenson[/FONT], the son of a colliery fireman, was born at Wylam, eight miles from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on 9th June, 1781. The cottage where the Stephenson family lived was next to the Wylam Wagonway, and George grew up with a keen interest in machines. George's first employment was herding cows but when he was fourteen he joined his father at the Dewley Colliery. George was an ambitious boy and at the age of eighteen he began attending evening classes where he learnt to read and write :eek:

That learning to read and write certainly helped one of our greatest engineers :T