A degree’s worth…?
I’ve had a couple of conversations with my students regarding the value of degrees.
For example, one student, who runs themusicmagazine.co.uk, a pretty sharp self-made music, err, magazine, was wondering what the value of a degree was when he could easily publish and develop as a journalist without having to attend lectures. Particularly when he and many others were feeling those lectures were not relevant enough to their needs, especially for those on the magazine journalism route. Not now, not paying fees. (Talking to a colleague today, he was the second to mention in the last couple of days the increased disgruntlement of students since fees were introduced. I can’t believe any/many are going as far as prostituion to pay their fees, though, as reported in The Times. Don’t do it, Scott…)
My response seemed a good one, so I thought I’d share it with some others.
1. When I was an undegraduate at Cardiff I edited the student newspaper and won an award, ran the radio station, presented the breakfast show, ran the student marketing group, and represented the NUS as their student rep for the Meningitis Trust and DrinkLine Youth. And had a few drinks, DJ-ed my way through Uni, and played football for InterStella and the English Society. Good times. So when I went for my first graduate job, in advertising, it was the range of experiences that I had that in the end gave me the confidence to get the interview and impress for the job. But it was a graduate job. Rightly or wrongly, I wouldn’t have even got in the door without the degree. (It was in Eng. Lang and Lit, not Journalism). Moral being: do as much as you can to build up your CV and portfolio, but get your degree.
2. Make the most of your lecturers. Regardless of how talented you may be, experience can be useful (even though you can’t be asked for it on job applications any more). If I’ve got 13 years as a journalist under my belt, I can probably help guide your work; as can my colleagues, both in Sunderland and across academia.
3. Journalism is the subject, but the essence of a degree is learning how to learn. At a high standard. There’s a whole world of things you could do after your degree, and only 7% of journalism students go to work in journalism directly after their degree (recent research by Mark Hanna, published in Journalism Practice). But what a degree will give you that nothing else will is a critical mind for approaching the world, society, media, around you. It’s not for everybody, which is why many academics don’t agree with the government’s plans to get 50% into HE education. Should it be for everybody? That’s a different debate. But if you’re in it, and you want to make the most of it, then yes, you are studying journalism, but you are also learning how to look at the world differently, and that is worth a lot. Take my word for it, or read this, highlights being:
- Graduates enjoy higher quality jobs than non-graduates.
- Graduates enjoy better health outcomes, by being less likely to smoke, more likely to exercise, and less prone to depression.
- Graduates’ children also benefit from the educational success of their parents: graduates tend to have a greater involvement with their child’s education.
- Graduates are more influential in the community, by being active citizens who are more likely to vote and participate in voluntary activities.
- Graduates show positive attitudes towards diversity and equal opportunities, such as on race and gender equality issues.
- Graduates, with their higher levels of skill, are a source of wider innovation and economic growth.
Mark Wilberforce, Dept. for Education and Skills
4. And if all else fails, watch this:
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2 Responses to “A degree’s worth…?”
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Strangely enough, I do often find myself lingering on street corners these days wondering if it’s worth it.
I was grateful for your comments in class on the day in question, it was great to actually hear a lecturer talking about how much the degree is worth. Too many of your colleagues seem to have little or no interest in the daily happenings of the students, or indeed what they’re getting out of the degrees they’re paying a substantial amount to study towards.
The majority of us (myself included, now) don’t mind the whole learning and academic aspects of the course - it’s when we’re not seeing any kind of progress that we grow disgruntled. We all put up with the first year as none of us were expecting to be made editor of the Guardian immediately, however it was when the first semester of the second year began in exactly the same way as the first year that we began to wonder what we were paying for.
I think the difference this semester has been both yourself and Alastair, two new lecturers who still seem to have that love of journalism we all started university with. Too many lecturers are either in comfortable PR jobs now, or abandoned journalism many years ago for the lure of money in PR. It always helps students to actually get taught by people who have a love for what they do.
So thanks, I actually look forward to coming in again now!
Cheers for the comments, Scott, much appreciated. I’ve been doing some more research on the benefits of a journalism degree, talking to old friends in journalism and media about it too, and will be blogging on it in a few days. Will let you know. Would be great if you could let people know about this stuff too, if they want to come and comment.