Posted on 7/16/2003, 4:16:17 AM by bruinbirdman
Higher education is producing too many graduates with useless degrees from poor quality universities, employers have told a study commissioned by the Government into the relationship between business and universities.
Many employers felt that declining standards in courses had resulted in graduates "lacking deep technical understanding".
Core scientific skills, in particular, were being sacrificed for "soft" skills such as communication, team working and business awareness.
There was a "proliferation of courses in media-based subjects, many of which would not be useful to a student choosing to embark on a career in the sector".
Some employers thought that standards of literacy and numeracy had fallen.
However, large multi-nationals able to attract the best graduates from good universities were happy with their recruits, believing that many of today's graduates were "more determined and career-focused than their predecessors".
All employers agreed that work experience was an important way of developing employability skills, but questioned the value of the "more mundane" jobs undergraduates did.
Asked what they thought about the way universities were run, employers said they found them "slow moving and bureaucratic, difficult to navigate around and risk-averse". Universities needed to transform themselves into more dynamic institutions, they said.
Oxford and Cambridge in particular would benefit from being more business-like in the way they ran their affairs.
"Cambridge has strengthened its intellectual leadership of the UK university system in recent years, but it has been much less successful in modernising its internal organisation, which remains closed and inward looking," said Richard Lambert, the author of the report.
"The challenge for Oxford and Cambridge is this: how far can they modernise the way they run themselves without threatening the culture that has contributed to their success? If they do not modernise, will they remain world-class institutions?
"Both universities are about to have new vice-chancellors. They face a leadership challenge of the highest order, and the outcome is a matter of public interest that stretches well beyond the confines of the two universities."
• Graduate vacancies fell by just over three per cent this year, but starting salaries rose by just over four per cent to a median of £20,300, the Association of Graduate Recruiters said.
Most vacancies were for graduates working in chartered accountancy, general management, IT, retail or as solicitors or barristers.
The highest starting salaries - £30,000 or more - were offered at investment banks, law firms, consulting or business service firms and oil companies.
Anyone who doubts the above statement can, just for fun, send inquiries about MBA programs to several leading graduate schools of business.
"If you want a degree go to college, if you want an education go to the library." ---Paul Henry Gettles---
The classic "Three R's"
Nobody ever questions his credentials until it is too late.
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