[Gllug] VACANCY: Junior Systems Support

[Thomi Richards]

Hi,

2009/9/7 Peter Corlett:
>
> Wait! Why does it need to be for career skills? What about the sheer
> enjoyment of learning something new and interesting? And it's "only"
> about five to ten grand over three years. Many hobbies will cost you
> more than that.
>
> If you just want something to advance your career, might I suggest a
> technical college or a vendor qualification?
>

*exactly* - I was waiting for someone to say that. As a proud graduate
from a technical college I'm fed up with the perception that
university degrees are supposed to get you a job. In my opinion, uni
degrees are not, and never have been about getting a job. They're
about learning to learn, hopefully instilling some work ethic into the
students and just maybe learning some deep theory from whichever field
you happen to have chosen.

Anyone expecting university graduates to have current, industry level
skills is dreaming - sure, you might get lucky once in a while, but
most universities just aren't interested in teaching that.

Personally, I don't think this is a failure of universities - rather,
it's a failure of marketing. People expect vocational skills from a
university, which is just not going to happen any time soon (certainly
not while the funding model employed by many governments around the
world (not sure about the UK, but certainly in Australia and NZ) is
based on lecturer _research_ output). Universities are, and should be
focussed on theoretical research, which rarely becomes a vocational
skill in the short time it takes a student to graduate.


Cheers,
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