What is one thing that needs to change in higher education?

To answer this question generically, I think that the overall model of higher education needs to change.

What do I mean by this?

First, I think that higher education markets itself in a misleading way. Our society and culture have put a high premium on a college education and perpetuate the attitude that higher education is a necessity. Of course, depending on an individual’s goals, an undergraduate or higher degree may be necessary. However, this is not the case for everyone, and many students are pushed into higher education that do not want or need to be there. Higher education is not entirely at fault for this since an individual is free to make their own choices but, either way, a number of problems arise from this practice. The points and statistics below are from an article by Premuzic and Frankiewicz in the Harvard Business Review.

A college degree is less valuable than it used to be.

A larger and large percentage of the population have degrees. This lessens the advantage of pursuing a degree and decreases the return on investment after getting a degree. This coupled with the 200% increase in college tuition over the last 20 years has caused student loan debt to increase by 600% in the same amount of time. This has led to a crisis as Americans are now over $1.4 trillion in debt from attaining higher education.

Students develop unrealistic expectations.

The leading reason for people to go to college is to get a job. However, many top universities are focused on research and not teaching. Also, many programs are for “education” or “learning” and not necessarily geared to prepare students for a career.

Many graduates cannot find their “dream” job upon graduating.

With the unrealistic expectations and the lack of preparation for a career, students are often overqualified for unfilled jobs or unqualified or unskilled for dream jobs. This leads to the rejection of unappealing jobs or a certain level of unhappiness if a job is taken. Therefore, millions of jobs remained unfilled even though unemployment persists and if a job is taken, many people end up changing jobs or careers multiple times.

These are just a couple of issues that I think are exacerbated by the model and practices associated with higher education.

As mentioned in the Future Professoriate class, the purpose of the university is to educate and not necessarily prepare students for careers. Also, I greatly enjoy research and plan to be a researcher as a career. So, I am not suggesting that universities do away with all research and non-practical or non-work-related degrees. I also want to point out that I understand universities are essentially businesses and provide a service for individuals. So, if students want to pay for a degree that doesn’t get them anywhere that decision should be on the student.

With all of that said, I think that there is a responsibility of higher education to first represent itself correctly. Then, since universities desire more students, as a business, I think it is in the university’s best interest to supply what students need to be successful. Since the number one reason students attend college is to get a job, I think universities should offer skills and content that employers are looking for. Even if this means moving away from the “knowledge for knowledge sake” mentality that is currently in place. Otherwise, I think the future of higher education is greatly at risk. The student loan crisis cannot go on forever and at some point, things are going to change. It may reach the point that college degrees are not worth the cost. With companies moving towards providing their own training, universities may find themselves no longer having students to teach and with many bills that cannot be covered by student tuition.

Overall, I truly think change is coming and it will be interesting if higher education can adapt and stay a head to ensure it survives this test of time.