Success in today’s world greatly hinges on how outstanding a person is in his career. A few decades ago, university graduates were almost guaranteed a good job with a good measure of success. However, that is becoming increasingly untrue for society today. While university students are armed with much knowledge which is supposed to empower them, the increasing speed at which the world is moving is making university education increasingly irrelevant to success. The reality is that university education is becoming too common, too limited and how information learnt is irrelevant.
Our society is creating more new knowledge and technology than it can be learnt, causing university education to be outdated, rendering it irrelevant. The intention of studying at a university for an individual is so that he can be equipped with specialized skills needed to be competitive in the industry, and thereby achieving success. However, the turnover of information and technology in universities is not able to keep up with the world. Take for example the biotechnology industry where new discoveries are being made on a weekly or even daily basis. It is impossible for university education to remain relevant to a student’s success through the education provided.
Some may argue that though universities are not able to keep up, universities conduct projects for students to know more about the latest information, and also that this fast turnover of information does not have much effect, not in the field of science. However, a point to note is that most students, in order to do well, gather information from past students and add on to it so slightly. Hence, can it be said that their information is up-to-date, considering their desire to do well exceeds their desire for learning? Also, with regards to students not in the field of science, these students, they learn mainly from experiences of what happens in the real world. As the world moves faster, more things happen as well, the world is changing fast, and university education cannot keep up with it. Hence, university education is fast becoming increasingly irrelevant due to the fast-changing tides of our world today. University education is no longer a passport to success because it is becoming increasingly common. In the past, university graduates could easily get a job because they were the cream of their crop in their society back then.
However, degree holders are widely available for employers to take a pick from in modern society. This can be seen from graduates who end up as hawkers in the food court, and the number of unemployed graduates out there. It can be argued that university education is still relevant to success even though it is common because as graduates become more common, so do jobs requiring their skills to become available to them compared to old times. However, when one speaks of success, it goes beyond having a job but being distinguished as an individual apart from other people. With university education being so common, our competitors will very well end up as another university graduate, which makes university education irrelevant since graduates do not stand out. Furthermore, university education does not prepare students adequately for the world out there enough for them to wield success in their hands.
The world is shrinking, our economy is no longer confined to our region but going global. University education is unable to equip people enough to deal with people of different cultures and perspectives in the world out there, which is imperative to success. This is not something that can be imparted and remain relevant to university education due to a lack of time. This is evident from how university students in order to adapt have to take up cultural classes in order to survive. Indeed, it is true that learning is a life – long process, it is just right that graduates should equip themselves better by learning more, and does not make university education irrelevant to success. However, if it is so, university education does not play a part in success anymore, because anyone and everyone can take up such classes so as to survive, even without a degree. Hence due to globalization, university education is becoming increasingly lacking in providing social skills with regard to different cultures for students to thrive, hence making university education irrelevant to success.
Also, our world is becoming a world where people thrive because of innovation and abilities apart from those acquired from academic discourse. University education imparts the best that they know how for graduates to survive. However, in today’s world, a degree is no longer a benchmark of capability. In our world today, capabilities need to be proven first before it can be recognized and used for success, and such capabilities do not require a university education. In today’s world, we are seeing an increasing number of people without a university degree being successful because of their innovations and talents. An example would be the proud owners of Creative technology, and Breadtalk, where they did not get much of an education but made it big. The case is clear that university education is irrelevant today.