However, if the University of South Carolina in the US is anything to go by, we should expect to see more degrees like Lady Gaga sociology in prospectuses the world over.
Without doubt a degree in golf or Lady Gaga acts as great publicity for an academic institution and demonstrates a post-modern spin on the more traditional course subjects. However, it also raises the obvious question about the value of a university education and how much these courses can really add to a student’s career progression.
While many students know what they want to do and study accordingly, for others university is an opportunity to extend their learning skills more generally. Neither approach can be criticised or held in higher esteem than the other. All degree students gain a level of self-discipline and an ability to apply themselves in a certain manner. In that sense, university delivers an enhanced skill set, from presentation and debating to social interaction, which prepares students for business, regardless of the degree.
Since the government’s university funding cuts, there’s inevitably been more scrutiny over the prominence of so-called ‘Mickey Mouse’ degrees. While it ultimately comes down to the vocational versus academic excellence debate, from an employer’s perspective it’s more about how one’s ability to recite Lady Gaga’s Poker Face or TS Eliot’s The Waste Land will impact on their ability to work. Behavioural qualities as well as skills are what help businesses to develop into successful organisations with attractive profit margins, that’s why a degree is always preferable in the recruitment process.
With this in mind, maybe more emphasis needs to be placed on the way we structure university education as opposed to the degree course itself. With the number of graduates unable to find jobs rising, it would make better sense to delay university and allow students to experience the workplace beforehand. Not only would it allow them to better understand the real demands of working life and the skills they need to succeed, but from a business standpoint it lets them build up the necessary life experience to make university a more beneficial process.
While there will always be a set of people who will look for degree courses away from the traditional classical choices, it’s rarely the high-end academic institutions that run them. As a result, such courses are a way for universities to reduce competitive advantage and build their profile. In that sense, the extent to which the prominence of these degrees is taking over the education system has been grossly exaggerated. In reality the business world faces more threat from inexperienced graduates with little awareness of the outside world than a ‘bad romance’ with Lady Gaga.
