Is a 4-Year University Degree still worth it in Today’s Business World??

Gone are the days of being at a job for 30 years. Millennials are always constantly looking for the next thing. They need to see potential to grow. A general perception about millennial however, is that they’re lazy and feel entitled and there’s some truth to that but if we’re to be honest which parent can’t say he wasn’t a bit lazy and also feel entitled to at the age range? Lol, and there are still people who are still lazy and entitled regardless of their generation.
But looking at millennial hinges on the fact that they still live at home with their parents and we should show sympathy towards them because they were sold a bill of goods when it came to the idea of if you go to College, if you get a 4 year degree a great job is waiting for you when you graduate. This was and is the information passed across growing up. It was true to some and to others, they are still waiting. Parents tell kids “going to the university is a must! You have to do it! A requirement! And a thing of shame if you don’t go”. But many still go and keep graduating but still aint “real” for them. Your investment for the future! They would say. Whether you like it or not millennial will make up the bulk of work force worldwide and the traditional 4 year university degree has failed us of the 21st Century generation.
So what does the way forward need to be if the 4-year university degree model is kind of this idea of a mirage that there is no guarantee that a great job is waiting for you? Is it a cultural peer pressure thing? That since Shola is going to university I also must go. Do you have to have a 4 year degree to get hired by today’s companies? Well perhaps so. The reality is the most in-demand jobs of today (PMP, coding etc.) are not taught by our universities because these jobs didn’t exist 5–10 years ago and how are they going to ever teach it and there are still no plans to. If we think about a university and its purpose we need to go back to what a university is originally designed to do. If your kid doesn’t want to be a Lawyer, Doctor or Architect or an Engineer or one these things that require a university education and still wondering what he’s going to do, please go get a job! Go figure out what you want to do while someone is paying you. We always had the thought “what do I do when I grow up?” and the university never gave us that answer as many currently are not working with Degree Title on their certificates. The university is just an expensive summer camp with many blurry memories versus valuable experience on a job.

How many can remember their course work if you can and its relevance and preparation to job duties of today? Many are taught in universities what will be forgotten almost immediately before graduation. Universities put out the same curriculum year in and year out! I am very sure the same courses I took in my time is the same the JAMB candidates of this year will take when they do enter the university. This isn’t good enough! Why can’t departments, faculties, and lecturers be placed on KPIs? An engineering department of any university should have at least 2–4 patents per semester or in an academic year. What is the basis of the need of grants, loans, and scholarship schemes if there is no evidence of work done?
Companies will want to hire some great talent but these millennial will need to continuously be trained and this is the future of businesses’ that will win are going to be companies who’re able to bear the burden to train or educate their staff because somebody must as the millennial can’t do it by themselves only and the government who are supposed to through grants and scholarships but we have seen how that has worked out. The companies that eventually win are those that will make people investments to get the talent. Everyone is talented and yet untrained will not be useful to anyone.
I look forward to a time when companies find bright, socially savvy and self-aware individuals who blow you away with their type of personality who can be hired almost immediately instead of going to university. What I think matters most in companies is the character, work ethics you cannot train for in the university can be instilled in them from the start. They sure will start off with something small in salary but the training and experience will make any company better for it. It is a necessity for continuity and growth instead of hiring persons who would demand high salaries based on their experiences and expertise who would still be taught the ways, methods, and culture of the company. The skills of today are changing and universities cannot keep up and must find other means to do so
So, therefore, why aren’t companies hiring from High School? We see this being done in America. Their College Basketball and Football (NFL) are going into homes and recruiting every day. Is it that there are no recruitment agencies in the country that can tap into this? Companies are supposed to work in collaboration with universities getting the 1st degree for these millennial. Thereby giving kids an alternative to either going to University or get paid at an early age and increase the level of possibilities for themselves, their families, companies and the country.
The world is moving fast, if you think so or feel so then yes it really is not just for you but it is changing at the same speed for everyone, we’re in the midst of change which creates new opportunities for everyone. Be part of the change!
Just trying to make sense of it all.
Karios

