Innovation in education
The BBC has been running a series of articles on higher education in the United Kingdom. Here's a link to one of the articles, "Call for action on degree 'fraud'"
Having lived in Taiwan for many years, I always suspected that many Western universities were dishing out degrees to pretty much any foreign student who was paying the full international fees. I have read with my own eyes barely readable e-mails from individuals who had received a post-graduate degree. First thoughts. How could they possibly have written an acceptable essay or a dissertation with this level of English? Somebody is taking the piss here. And let's not rationalize what's going on here: you don't need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows.
In addition to the discussion on standards of English of foreign students at U.K. universities, don't you just sense that higher education -- business education in particular -- needs a bit of an overhaul? Don't you just feel it in your gut? Let me give you an example of what I mean: I completed an MSc in International Marketing, yet I never learned anything about how to write copy for advertising or direct marketing.
They don't teach this at business school
I am reading and learning about this craft on my own. I don't have a problem with that: I am well aware that most people who are really successful in any endeavor are self taught. This is not to say that they did it alone, however. I'd also say that a university degree is often more a tool for increasing social distance than a true reflection of anybody's intelligence or potential. There are whole television shows devoted to this viewpoint.
There is obviously a gap between what universities are teaching and what businesses actually need. But I sense change is afoot, not because of any true leadership at universities, but thanks to free markets. New universities like the University of Phoenix, who hire teachers with post-graduate qualifications and significant experience in their respective fields. Courses are offered to students who would not have had the opportunity in the past -- shut out of the "elite" schools for whatever reason. Classic examples of disruptive innovation nibbling away at the foundations of incumbents, and being sneered at in the process. That's the wonderful thing about free markets -- ever so slightly regulated, of course.
My mum has a saying that I love: "If it were left to man, the poor would forever be poor and the rich would never die."
Image courtesy of The White Shirt Company
Having lived in Taiwan for many years, I always suspected that many Western universities were dishing out degrees to pretty much any foreign student who was paying the full international fees. I have read with my own eyes barely readable e-mails from individuals who had received a post-graduate degree. First thoughts. How could they possibly have written an acceptable essay or a dissertation with this level of English? Somebody is taking the piss here. And let's not rationalize what's going on here: you don't need a weatherman to tell you which way the wind blows.
In addition to the discussion on standards of English of foreign students at U.K. universities, don't you just sense that higher education -- business education in particular -- needs a bit of an overhaul? Don't you just feel it in your gut? Let me give you an example of what I mean: I completed an MSc in International Marketing, yet I never learned anything about how to write copy for advertising or direct marketing.
I am reading and learning about this craft on my own. I don't have a problem with that: I am well aware that most people who are really successful in any endeavor are self taught. This is not to say that they did it alone, however. I'd also say that a university degree is often more a tool for increasing social distance than a true reflection of anybody's intelligence or potential. There are whole television shows devoted to this viewpoint.
There is obviously a gap between what universities are teaching and what businesses actually need. But I sense change is afoot, not because of any true leadership at universities, but thanks to free markets. New universities like the University of Phoenix, who hire teachers with post-graduate qualifications and significant experience in their respective fields. Courses are offered to students who would not have had the opportunity in the past -- shut out of the "elite" schools for whatever reason. Classic examples of disruptive innovation nibbling away at the foundations of incumbents, and being sneered at in the process. That's the wonderful thing about free markets -- ever so slightly regulated, of course.
My mum has a saying that I love: "If it were left to man, the poor would forever be poor and the rich would never die."
Image courtesy of The White Shirt Company
posted by Gordon Graham at 9:10 AM
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