I'm seek research, articles and reports that explain why higher
education (colleges and universities) continue as ?degree granting?
institutions vs. providing students with employment portfolios.
The ?WHY? are the incentives (drivers, forces, motivations, etc) for
Higher Education (HE) to continue this practice.
I seek information supporting the following suggested reason:
#1 - The world of Higher Education (HE)is disconnected from the world
of employment and HE appears to want to keep it that way.
Granting degrees allows HE to be unaccountable for their own
institutional performance, allows HE to set the criteria for the
?goal?(degree), set the measurements and ultimately be the judge of
who gets the degree. It is a system of ONE party, the institution,
setting the rules of the game, issuing the game equipment (books,
instructors, etc.), controlling the ballfield and being the umpire ?
all in one.
The student customer pays money to play this rigged game. The student
customer has no guarantee that achieving the goal (the coveted degree)
has any value in their career success.
On the other hand, an Employment Portfolio, provides a compilation of
a variety of skill sets, experiences, course completions and
demonstrated competencies useful in displaying the student?s value to
prospective employers.
I also suspect, that academe ?looks down? on things like skills sets,
specific job competencies, training and other realistic employment
criteria. Academe prefers elevating their ?conceptual? course content
as superior to mundane and simplistic ?job requirements?. The classic
argument is ?Education is superior to Job Training? yet the world of
work doesn?t see it that way.
I expect this Answer requires digging deeply. In quick reviews of
previous google answers dealing with graduate placement rates type
topics, ready data is NOT available from organized HE institutions and
associations. It?s not information HE wants advertised. The % of
graduates successfully employed in their field of study after 5 years
would display a grand scale failing of HE. This is not data,
statistics and reports that ?sell? HE to prospective students.
However, if "number" based reports are available supporting the bias
listed above, they are useful. But the "number" reports do not
EXPLAIN the reasons HE continue their degree granting basis of
existence.
I seek reports/papers written about this topic from the ?bias? I
describe above. They are probably not sourced from institutions of
HE.
I welcome comments to help clarify my own question. I recognize it is
prone to multiple interpretations and I wish to be more succinct once
researchers point out how my question wording is problematic. |
Request for Question Clarification by
cynabun-ga
on
07 Dec 2003 06:00 PST
liberty-ga
I want make sure that I understand what you are looking for, before I
set out on any searches.
1) You are interested in determining why institutions of higher
education have not moved from conferring degrees to a more hand on,
experiental apporach to education (ie. The optional internship or
practicum is an integral and continous part of the curriculum)?
2) You are working with the premise that the rationale for maintaining
the current system are related to accountability, control and
financial gain?
3) You are looking for information that supports idea that industry
values the development of skill sets and practical experience as a
part of prepartation for employment?
4) Would you like information from non-traditional universities and
colleges that do support experiential learning ( ie. DeVry, University
of Phoenix)?
5) Are intersted in information regarding institutions of higer
education in the US, aboard or both?
Thanks,
cynabun-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
liberty-ga
on
07 Dec 2003 07:37 PST
cynabun-ga
Good questions. I appreciate this type of clarifying inquiry to
ensure the searches lead to root causes vs. symptoms.
I?ll comment on each of your item:
1) Current day HE degrees are NOT generally aligned to employment.
Many, if not most, businesses must retrain employees to develop skill
sets not presented in the HE experience. This is one portion of the
topic. Another part is HE doesn?t offer degrees in thousands of
valuable professions that pay and are more secure than ?traditional?
degrees. Plumbers are a classic example. HE has plenty of degrees in
obscure areas, yet does not offer degrees in real life great careers
(i.e. you can find a BA in Ancient Byzantium Culture yet there is no
degree, or even academic credit offered for skilled trades and a huge
number of other technical career areas.)
I use the ?portfolio? vs. ?degree? to illustrate the point that HE is
disconnected from employment. The answer(s) I seek are WHY, the root
causes of this disconnect.
Your observation of internship, practicum (and throw in apprenticeship
too) are good examples of a more employment based curriculum.
Comparing HE institutions that offer these vs. those that don?t might
help identify part of the WHY.
2) Your restated rationale is correct, but there may be additional
items I keep learning as this topic is researched. For instance, here
is an actual quote from an arrogant faculty senate who have biases
like: ".....shall not offer collegiate courses nor award academic
credit for vocational training courses designed for specific job
preparation or advanced job training. These courses are characterized
by training for specific job skills, rather than education involving
conceptual learning."
Well hoity-toity, let's not get our hands dirty with that low grade
"specific skill" garbage.
I?m hoping research will identify these type and other attitudes that
are part of the mix in the root causes.
3) Yes. I?d add that industry wants HE curriculum aligned to
employment needs. I?m not suggesting industry expects graduates to be
100% ready to go with very specific skills, but the current divide ?
disconnect is HUGE. Even if industry got NO practical experience from
a graduate during their HE experience, but the curriculum subject
matter was aligned to industry?s positions, that would indeed be a
significant improvement.
Also, a caveat, some think this industry request (curriculum
alignment) is a selfish, money grabbing demand by industry and should
not be fulfilled. That is wrong. It?s the STUDENT who is the main
benefactor when their HE experience better prepares them for real life
career success. Students and industry have a MUTUAL interest in this
success ?. That poses an interesting observation ? why doesn?t HE
share in this same interest?
4) YES, information from non-traditional is useful TO THE EXTENT it
helps answer the question of ROOT CAUSES. I think research WILL show
these non-traditional institutions may have a different set of
incentives. Therefore helping to identify those ROOT CAUSES.
5) Because it is a difficult question, limit to US unless researching
abroad helps figure out those ROOT CAUSES. For example, Germany has
HE system that are VERY employment focused. But their ?tracking? and
possible lack of individual choices may be a contributing factor.
Also, I?ll add that visiting CHEA at: http://www.chea.org/index.htm
is a starting point where it?s clear that HE is structured as ?degree
granting? institutions.
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