Despite popular opinion, being a student in 2016 is far from an easy life. Amid some of the tedious challenges we’re confronted with every day, our country’s continued economic struggles and funding cuts persist, fuelling student’s worries surrounding finding fulfilling employment. The value of a degree has now become more questionable than ever.
Put simply, the term “academic inflation” describes a rise in the qualifications required for a given job and the gradual devaluation of the value of degrees. The notion that our degree is not ‘good enough’ to get us jobs is not foreign to us; there has been considerable attention drawn to grade and academic inflation in the world of higher education today.
Here are some ways academic inflation could be affecting you…
1. “I couldn’t get that job at the McDonald’s because academic inflation caused them to only accept people with PhD’s in burgerflipping” Formerly considered as a specialised elite qualification, an undergraduate degree is now the norm. As more people look forward to the prospect of a highly successful career in the future, more accessible degrees for people from diverse backgrounds enhances competition and of course shrinks the value of your degree.
2. “I haven’t found a job yet, may as well go back to uni”We may find ourselves ‘resorting’ to doing a masters, simply to delay getting onto the career ladder. There are good reasons to do a masters such as making industry connections and the increased demand by employers, but before avoiding the big wide world of work, serious questions need to be asked around the value of that build up of debt.
3. “A higher-level qualification equals a better job, right?”As a result of academic inflation, a master’s degree is becoming a common sight on CVs, having less impact on employers that it once did. For instance, where a BA may have been adequate to qualify for a job ten years ago, the same job may now requires an MA.
4. “I don’t know what I want to do”Achieving or even setting career targets in a competitive and increasingly-skilled workforce is difficult. However, enriching your skill-set beyond what you’ve already developed in your degree, even if work isn’t relevant to your future careers, is vitally important.
There are also several economic effects tied in with academic inflation, such as the rise in the cost of tuition. This is a problem for both students and educational institutions, but on a larger scale it is a problem for the entire economy. There have also been links to grade inflation and other unfair educational practices. On a more positive note, as our economy continues to struggle and the job market is fiercer than ever, a college degree can hold vital importance, and mustn’t be reduced to negative outlooks. The vast demand for degrees ensures that education remains one of the most valued assets in modern society, making graduates of today more incentivised, driven and determined than ever.
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