Cafe Staff With PhDs – Is University Worth It?
A record 500,000 18 and 19 year-olds packed their laptops for university in the UK in September. They will pay among the highest public university fees in the world, more than many students in the US, Canada and Australia.
Although the top 1 per cent who go to prestigious universities such as Oxford, Cambridge or Bristol will more than likely find work of their choice, and continue to dominate the top echelons of public life – becoming judges, newspaper columnists and surgeons – many from less celebrated universities will struggle to find decent jobs at all.
For these students, and the policymakers who have promoted tertiary qualifications for the past three decades, it is increasingly worth asking the question: is university worth it?
Kenneth Baker, once a minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government, challenges the notion that university always pays.
“There’s a huge amount of graduate underemployment,” he says. “The fact is that universities want as many bums on seats as possible but they need to think about destinations for jobs.
“If someone has completed a first degree in sociology and six months later they are working as a barista in a coffee shop, that is an issue both for them and the economy.”
The problem has been accentuated by the digital revolution, which is bringing to an end the type of middle management jobs that people with humanities degrees used to get, he says. Meanwhile, a skills gap is caused by technical qualifications being squeezed out of school and higher education courses.
Other countries have been better at overcoming the so-called “barista with a PhD” problem. Switzerland, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands blend formal education, apprenticeships, work and international experience to provide the skills employers need, according to research by Adecco, the Switzerland-based recruiter.
Charlie Ball, deputy director of research at the Higher Education Career Services Unit, however, says a degree remains the best means of acquiring the breadth of skills needed to cope with rapid changes in technology and business. Companies are mostly unconcerned with exactly what subject their recruits studied, he adds. “A degree is a discipline. When psychology degrees were all the rage, everyone knew we didn’t have 8,000 or 10,000 jobs in psychology each year. But the skills they learnt, which match maths and human relationships, are exactly what many modern employers need, and so psychology graduates have a lower unemployment rate than the average.”
Apprenticeships are too specialised and inflexible, he says. “In the last recession it was the skilled trades that were among the worst hit. It is never people with the highest-level education that suffer the most.”
Vocabulary:
fees – money paid for a specific service, like university classes or a doctor’s visit, “The school fees are due before the first week of class.”
prestigious – respected, admired, and considered very high status or high quality, “He won a scholarship to study at a prestigious university in London.”
dominate – to have complete control, power, or the strongest influence over a situation or group, “Big technology companies completely dominate the modern smartphone market.”
top echelons – the highest, most powerful levels or ranks in an organization or society, “Only a few individuals manage to reach the top echelons of the corporate world.”
surgeons – medical doctors who are specially trained to perform operations on patients, “The surgeons spent four hours successfully fixing the patient’s broken bone.”
celebrated – famous, well-known, and highly praised by the public, “The coastal city is celebrated for its beautiful historical buildings and fresh seafood.”
decent – good enough, satisfactory, or of an acceptable quality, “It is hard to find a decent apartment near the city center for a low price.”
policymakers – people who create the official rules, laws, and plans for a government, school, or organization, “Policymakers met today to talk about ways to improve the local school system.”
tertiary qualifications – university degrees, college diplomas, or certificates earned after finishing high school, “Many modern professional jobs require applicants to have tertiary qualifications.”
notion – an idea, belief, or opinion about something, “She strictly rejected the notion that you need a lot of money to live a happy life.”
underemployment – a situation where workers have jobs that do not use all of their skills, education, or available hours, “Taking a job sweeping floors when you have a law degree is an example of underemployment.”
bums on seats – (idiom) a phrase meaning the number of people sitting in an audience, filling spaces, or attending an event, “The local theater lowers its ticket prices on Tuesdays just to get more bums on seats.”
barista – a person who prepares and serves various coffee drinks in a café or coffee shop, “The friendly barista made a perfect hot latte for me this morning.”
accentuated – made a feature or a problem more noticeable, prominent, or clear, “The sharp black background accentuated the bright colors of the painting.”
humanities degrees – university studies in subjects focused on human culture, such as history, literature, philosophy, and art, “Students with humanities degrees usually develop excellent writing and communication skills.”
squeezed out – (phrasal verb) forced or pushed out of a space, schedule, or system because there is no room left, “Art classes were unfortunately squeezed out of the school day to make more time for math.”
so-called – commonly named or called a certain way, often used to show that a title might be informal or doubtful, “The so-called expert made a huge mistake during his television presentation.”
blend – to mix, combine, or join two or more different things together successfully, “The chef likes to blend sweet and spicy flavors in his special sauces.”
apprenticeships – programs where a person works for an employer to learn a practical, professional skill or trade, “The technical college offers excellent apprenticeships in plumbing and electricity.”
recruiter – a person or company whose job is to find, interview, and hire new workers for employers, “The corporate recruiter called her to arrange a formal job interview for next week.”
acquiring – getting, gaining, learning, or obtaining something for yourself, “He is completely focused on acquiring new computer programming skills this summer.”
breadth – a wide range, distance, size, or variety of something, “The student’s final research paper covers a great breadth of historical topics.”
recruits – people who have recently joined a company, group, team, or military force, “The manager gave a warm welcome to all the new recruits on Monday morning.”
discipline – a specific field of study or branch of knowledge at a university, “World history is a fascinating academic discipline to study.”
all the rage – (idiom) very popular, trendy, or fashionable at a specific moment in time, “Wearing oversized neon jackets was all the rage back in the 1990s.”
specialised – focusing intensely and deeply on one narrow activity, skill, or subject, “The doctor has a highly specialised knowledge of human heart health.”
inflexible – hard to change, adapt, or adjust; strictly set, “The office hours are inflexible; everyone must arrive at exactly 9 a.m.”
recession – a difficult economic period where business activity drops, trade decreases, and people lose jobs, “Many small family companies had to close down during the global recession.”
skilled trades – professional jobs that require specialized manual or practical training, such as carpentry, plumbing, or welding, “Learning skilled trades can lead to steady work and a very high income.”