The higher education white paper, proposed recently by Universities Minister David Willets, suggests that universities should take a much more active role in career development, ensuring that each of its graduates regardless of course is fully prepared for the workplace upon its completion. Several weeks on, the debate sparked by this proposal continues, with many figures within higher education now speaking out against the idea and raising new questions about the responsibilities of universities and the way in which academic and career development should overlap.
One such figure to have spoken out is the director of the prestigious Russell Group of universities, Dr Wendy Platt. Arguing against the need to train students for a specific job, Platt spoke of the value of continuing to develop a diverse range of skills applicable in any workplace. Similarly, Professor John Brennan, director of the Centre for Higher Education Research and Information at the Open University, highlighted the benefit of equipping students with the necessary skills to enter the graduate workplace and continue their development there, rather than preparing them for an entire career right off the bat.
Brennan also points out the significance of the difference between Britain's higher education system and, for example, that of Germany, where longer vocational courses are more in line with the white paper proposal. By entering the workplace at an earlier stage, British graduates get time to develop and by the time a longer course would have finished, are capable of being just as well equipped for their workplace without the additional years of study.
Amidst the debate, concerns are raised over the desire of graduate employers to have students leave university as the finished article, ready to thrive in any workplace. There are, however, benefits for the employers within the current system. Graduates entering the workplace even from the least vocational of degree backgrounds possess a flexibility that a more vocational education could hinder, allowing them to continue their development and apply their skills in a huge number of different areas. This flexibility, along with the ability to pick a university course based at least partly on personal interest as well as long-term career prospects, feels like something that it would be in the best interests of students and employers alike to preserve. The white paper could nonetheless yield positive results through heightened awareness within universities of the skills which employers are looking for, but focus on this too robotically and students could find themselves leaving university without some of the flexibility which can often prove so valuable.
Jon, GRB Journalist
