Sunday, October 16, 2011
NO More Jobs
Are universities obliged to qualify students for the market force?
Are universities required to study the market and its requirements?
These questions can be posed by many people when they notice the paradox between students and between the actual needs of the marketplace. Many of the students find out that no jobs opportunities for them could be fit with their study and many of these disciplines is undesirable in the market force.
So what is the solution?!
The solution lies in the interaction between universities and the market force. That era have gone which the State is obliged to employ graduates, and the private sector cannot or does not wish to employ all graduates, as this sector is growing through competition and hard work and useful disciplines to continue in the market for the longest possible period.
In order for the interaction between universities and the labor market, we have to review the curricula and study plans, and work on revision and development, we have to do studies on the feasibility of certain disciplines, and try to minimize it, especially those disciplines that cannot be useful for student to find a good job opportunity after their graduation in public or private sector.
It is essential that universities develop its academic programs based on the circumstances in all aspects which are surrounding it, and contribute to participate in the successful of development plans, and that means graduation numbers required in the disciplines which are desired by the community and welcomed in the marketplace.
The high rate of unemployment graduates is an indicator of the gap between the marketplace and educational institutions. If we look at the economic cost of unemployment which is the domestic output gap and means the difference between the level of actual output and the level of potential output (Potential Product), we will find it tens of billions.
Unemployment does not stand at this point, but there are social and security effects which show the seriousness of these effects in two cases: when the youth and adolescents represent a large percentage of unemployed, as well as the longer of unemployment more than a year, because the short period of unemployment (less than a year) that unemployed can receive supportive sources of income through his family or through personal savings, but if the extended period of unemployment more than a year it is expected that will be security and social effects of unemployment, these effects may appear through the crimes of thefts, murders and drugs.
The unemployment is the biggest problem which affects the economic and social in the contemporary world. Therefore, universities must take a role in alleviating the problems of unemployment and resolving the job crisis.
There is no doubt that universities are the natural place to develop the knowledge, skills and graduation of qualified specialists for all sectors, and thus open up work opportunities in easier ways.
Also, universities can take a role in the identification of the market force, and help graduates as much as possible by developing its programs and cooperation with government institutions and private foundations in order to design programs and courses to hone the skills of students and alumni.
The fact that some of the disciplines will be subject of shrinkage and fading if it not match or meet the needs of the community and if it doesn’t interact with the current issues or problems.
General education and university education particularly should be a revenue investment since there are many things that university is spending a lot of money on it. For example, return constructions, teachers, books and labs, student’s services... etc. All of this must find an increase in productivity. These economic productivity that associate with the proper planning will encourage educational institutions, especially universities to enable them of graduation of qualified and trained students who can contribute in economic development ..
Shut down or reduce the number of students in the disciplines which are not needed in the marketplace at least for few years, then be re-opened again depending on the need for them.
Here we have to look at the pros and cons of making such a decision.
Pros:
• Contributing to solve the unemployment problem.
• Coordination between the university and the marketplace.
• Direct the costs of these disciplines to disciplines that are needed in the marketplace.
• Integration of disciplines which are close together in the case of reducing numbers of access.
• Guiding the education in community colleges to vocational education which is required for marketplace to be directed toward of professional disciplines.
• Faculty members can work on researches, studies and measurement of social phenomena and problems that will appear in the community after the change.
Cons:
• Lack of the faculty and staff in the disciplines concerned.
• The need for interdisciplinary due to retirement or leaving some of the staff or teachers their jobs for any reason.
Finally, I am with the viewpoint reduce (not closing) the numbers of disciplines that are its student cannot find a job opportunity after their graduation.
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Interesting idea. I think this connects to one of the articles for this week's class. There are fewer 'traditional' jobs that students take after college. We're often told that the most popular jobs in ten years don't even exist today. We've also been told that people change careers between 4-7 times in their life. So, should we prepare students for the unknown job they will have in ten years?
ReplyDeleteI'd recommend that we instead focus on teaching students how to think, work in teams, solve problems creatively, and take in new information. Maybe we ought to encourage more literacy, language courses, and international education. Yes, a graphic designer may experience a job shortage in 10 years, but whatever job they take will require them to work with others, absorb new information, work across cultures, and solve problems creatively.
I think you're right that we can do a disservice by providing a major that won't employ a student (I think of the music performance major who clearly isn't good enough to make a living, yet the faculty let them continue in their pursuit of that degree). Maybe colleges/departments ought to create clearer and broader learning outcomes that go beyond the curriculum in the textbook.
Unfortunately, we can not predict the future for the job market. Back in the late 80's and early 90's, a student could not go wrong with a degree in computers or technology. Companies like Hewlett-Packard and IBM could not hire graduates fast enough. But no one would have predicted that so many of those jobs would be shipped over seas and nobody predicted 9/11. Subsequent to 9/11, the high tech industry in the US took a hit, a big hit. Personally, we experienced layoffs at HP over a period of about 5 years in the very industry that was booming when my husband graduated.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, I am encouraging my children to focus on a broader degree choice so that they have some flexibility. I believe that a general business degree might be preferable over a management degree. If they want to focus on management, then they could do a minor or an emphasis. Again, this is my idea of one way to be prepared for the ever changing careers.
As to the lack of jobs available and the colleges not being able to identify current career needs, I believe that it is important for colleges to communicate with their incoming students the jobs that are currently available, the industries that are hiring but at the same time, being able to explain that even though these may be the more immediate needs that the future needs may be much different. Students do need to be well rounded and that should be taken into consideration when choosing elective courses or a minor in a subject area.
And, I have to admit that I am thankful that I graduated at a time that jobs were readily available. I had several job offers in my field of accounting as I graduated from college and I was able to determine where I wanted to work. That is certainly not the case in today job market!!