Colleges and Universities are Not What They Used to Be. Should You Bother Going?

“College Started as a community of masters and scholars. It was a refuge; it was a place you went to get lost in ideas, to discover and wander, and to plot as an academic. Today it is a place you go to exchange a lifetime of debt for credit hours, a degree, and maybe a good job.” — Seth Godin

Universities have undoubtedly fallen behind the Times.

Look over the recent years at how much the world of work has changed.

In brief of how Seth Godin put it in his book, The Icarus Deception:

In the 1920’s after high school you would be told to simply get any job with steady work and fair pay. Then by 1940 you would be told to go to college to broaden your mind, learn to manage, to organize and become a middle manager. A few years after that, the idea would be to reach for a profession — study to become a doctor or a lawyer.

Then at the time of mass marketing and TV you would be encouraged to take another notch up the ladder and become marketers, advertisers, copywriters, and investment bankers — workers who manipulate ideas not iron.

Now today, despite being able to reach billions of people via the internet and an abundance of options to kick start your career without the need for a formal education, we haven’t moved from that level.

We’re still telling the youth the same thing; to play it safe, go to university, get a good job and keep your head down. We’re encouraging people to follow the rules and allow their level of success to be dictated by someone else. That doesn’t sound like a good deal to me, not in today’s age.

Why waste away a few years in an institution; drinking, living rough and gaining debt. When you still need to graduate and then work your way up the ladder again but in a workplace. Wouldn’t it make more sense to skip all that and create your own path rather than following the rules of someone else?

“The problem with most colleges is that they are high school but with more binge drinking. High school is a series of tests that prove you fit in more than everyone else, that you have done what you are told. And anyone who goes to college trying to do more of that — because that’s what got them into college — has failed. The entire purpose of a good university is to give you a foundation to fail, not a foundation to get an A. And if you graduate from college with straight A’s, you have to do some serious soul-searching as to why you chose to spend your time doing that.” — Seth Godin

A few other issues with today’s universities:

University teaching is broken

The teaching methods used in education have remained static. You would think with the world of work constantly changing, the teaching would too have changed considerably to keep up. They haven’t. Providers are still more focused on a student’s education experiences, rather than their career to come, and in an age of increasing fees and commoditization, that’s the wrong direction.

There really should be a shift from this thought that universities are education providers to one which sees them becoming vehicle’s in job alignment. After all, one does not usually go to university solely for the experience and to obtain a good education, but to ultimately in the end to get a job.

University leaves graduates under skilled

There is a great disconnect between students and jobs. McKinsey’s Education for Employment survey found that 74% of providers think graduates leave university prepared for an entry-level position. While only 35% of employers are under this same immersion. Graduates themselves aren’t impressed either, with a mere 38% answering positively to the same question.

What we’re seeing is millions of jobs unfilled because employers lack the skilled workers they need. With almost 40% of employers saying a lack of skills by graduates being the main reason for such vacancies.

Clearly universities need to realign what they think makes a fit-for-purpose graduate, to what employers think.

What should be done?

How can we get back to a time where university is worth going to?

It starts with reshaping the current university to one that reflects the modern time, not 20 years ago!

I see the new shaping of universities to ideally be as such;

Shift of finance

When a kid comes out of high school and is considering going to university, that’s a big financial decision. You’re signing up for what can in cases be a lifetime of debt and in return getting not much to show for it other than a piece of paper. There needs to be a model which ensures students can actually make a ROI within 5, 10, maybe 20 years.

Perhaps this could be that the student pays half of the tuition at the beginning of their degree, and half only when the desired outcome has been achieved, which is most likely to be a job. This puts providers own profitability at stake and makes them accountable for the education their providing. Rather than what were seeing at the moment where students are paying a great expense for in turn a relatively poor education.

Realign courses to the industry

A new alignment needs to be seen between what the student is studying, and what the employer wants to see. This is something which has fallen off greatly. Students are still getting taught stuff that was relevant 20 years ago but is not today.

Big players in the working industry’s need to be helping to design the courses to meet their needs. Because if employers don’t value the credential a student gets, then the value of that education is going to decrease.

Look at the broader picture

Universities should be looking to embed a lifelong learning approach into students, rather than sustaining the sense that learning stops when you graduate.

Continuous self development is the key to success in this new world as jobs are no longer for life.

People should be looking to graduate to become entrepreneurs and freelancers, rather than simply getting comfortable in a job.

In Conclusion

Universities need to wake up and adapt some of these changes. Any which does would steal a great competitive edge, by giving learners, and organizations offerings that actually align to their needs.

Until then, I’m not saying for you not to go to university, but be self-aware, recognize the world of work is constantly changing and decide what’s best given your options.

At university strive to achieve top grades, enjoy the experiences of your journey, but most importantly find yourself along the way. Use it as something more than just academic institution — use it as a way of improving yourself, the relationships with others and become the best version of yourself.

Look at your options outside of your classes. The whole world is classroom, so learn it and own it — craft a great physique, become an entrepreneur, change the world. Because this individual development will benefit you far greater through life than any degree in today’s age.

“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.” — Jim Rohn