THE WORLD
Hyperinfl ation of
Qualifi cations
Are degrees worth the paper they
are written on?
T
he simple and straight been a “grade drift” over the £30,000 per annum; dreams that
answer is “Yes, they last decade or so, where those simply don’t add up. Graduates
are”, and worth a heap people who do not necessarily need to come to terms with the
more. Nevertheless, over the have the aptitudes can attend idea of skills over qualifi cations.
past decade, since New Labour’s higher education institutions, Increasingly employers are looking
announcement to see 50% and thereby employers require a for those with clear tangible
of all 30 year olds attending “higher” qualifi cation for jobs that leadership traits, those who can
university by 2010, resulting in once required none. Additionally, sell, infl uence, and be creative.
a hyperinfl ation in qualifi cations. the push for university education When asking 25 FTSE fi rms, 18
Doubts have risen whether at all costs has meant that there listed “people skills” in their top
demand for graduates has kept up is a shortage of bright school three requirements for graduates.
with supply. Take the fi nancial leavers for employers to pick up,
services sector as a prime and hence use graduates for jobs Industry is devaluing degrees,
example of graduate devaluation, that once upon a time, an able which does not mean that they
where 45% of all graduates were school leaver could do. are useless, it simply means that
recruited for posts which were they’re not enough. Sadly, most
mainstream roles, in other words, The truth is that the average graduates who can’t fi nd work
jobs that did not require a degree. graduate is over educated and think that further qualifi cations will
under skilled. Employers somehow improve their chances,
Employers who are faced with desperately need a concentrated but they are sadly mistaken. It’s
a much larger pool of graduates mix of both. A survey done by not further qualifi cations that fi rms
can quite easily upgrade a job to HPD on 200 newly qualifi ed want, but betters
require a degree, when in previous graduates highlight that only 10%
.
practical skills
and experience.
years no such qualifi cation was had any relevant work experience
necessary. Alternatively, many under their belt, while over 40%
employers feel that there has had ambitions of earning over
52 52
HPD Sept ‘09 - Feb ‘10
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