domingo, 13 de dezembro de 2009

2009: The Year of the Graduate

With an ever-increasing number of school leavers flooding off to university, but with graduate opportunities seemingly fewer and farther between, the graduation saturation point must be fast approaching. This year alone, up to 40,000 new graduates will still be unemployed come the turn of the year. Yet the myth is still peddled that a university education is the key to unlocking the gateway to everyone's dream job. However, the reality is somewhat starker. Rather than a degree throwing off the shackles of working in the service industry or going from temp job to temp job that provided essential funding for further education, that same degree begins to appear like a millstone around the graduate's shoulders as he still finds himself going cap in hand to recruitment agencies, willing to take whatever they offer, but this time saddled with burdensome debts.

Tony Blair's Labour Party was famously ushered into power on the back of a manifesto that screamed “Education; Education; Education”, and in their 12 years in Government there has been a substantial rise in both the number of universities and the number of people choosing to pursue further education. Although we haven't yet reached the magic figure of 50 percent of school leavers choosing the university option, that reality is not far off.

However, surely it is now time to rethink this blind pursuit of providing university for everyone. Today, we have built up a perception that without a degree, you are almost a second class citizen, and anyone that works with their hands rather than with a computer must be inferior. Conversely, those in possession of degrees feel they must be on exorbitant salaries. But with almost half of young people now going to university, degrees are becoming increasingly devalued. Now, rather than making you stand out from a crowd, a degree has almost become a minimum requirement for job hopefuls- and an expensive one at that!

So 2009 has seen 260,000 new graduates pouring out onto an already over-burdened job market. Thousands are competing for one or two positions within companies that often reward the efforts of applicants by not even providing them with the common courtesy of a generic rejection or an acknowledgement of receipt. Thus, the hopefuls are left in limbo wondering and waiting before the slow realization dawns on them that they have been unsuccessful once again. The whole process can be demoralising, especially having worked for three or more years to reach this point, our bright young things having their dreams dashed and knocked back on an almost daily basis.

The culture has to change.

University should return to being a place of academic excellence rather than merely an expected norm. The derogatory stance towards manual work has to change to a point where it is considered a viable alternative to academia.

2009 has been the year of the ox: apt given the thick skins that this year's graduates have had to develop.

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