Good Gracious!

There are so many courses and universities these days that makes me wonder if higher education is worth at all?

 

Re: Re: Good Gracious!

I'll second that TEKMAN.....

I'm going to read into this though and wonder if you're really asking what the merits of higher education are in a country where college has become the new high school. Is that true?

In my office they won't hire receptionists who don't have a 4 year degree - even if they've been working as receptionists for 20+ years.

But that's just me guessing...

 

Accept for personal development degrees such as a theology degree, every academic endeavor that I have undertaken has resulted in higher pay, a better position, or both. My salary has more than doubled over the last 6 or 7 years. This is quite a bit higher than the typical 3 to 4 percent per year raise. I liken education to “sowing seed”.

 

"Except for personal development degrees such as a theology degree, every academic endeavor that I have undertaken has resulted in higher pay, a better position, or both."

Well, in my opinion higher educations have been so much commercialized and in coutries where for a certain type of job profile a bachelor's degree is good enough, having done a Masters and a post-masters research masters are not bringing in more financial returns. Maybe respect is a different thing and it is worth the money spent towards gaining respect. By the way why I asked the question was because it occured to me that most of the higher education institutes are commercialized and therefore there are dime a dozen universities offereing a certain course for a fee and the quality of education is diluted. Except for the ivy league schools, not a lot of folks know the value of a certain degree compared to the other.

Can someone tell me if it is worth spending 25000 pounds on a UK MBA that would warrant a job for sure?

 

Well, how much would your job pay in pounds per year? And how "sure" would you be of getting that job?

 

It is still uncertain!

Actually it is still uncertain and the course coordinators claim that jobs are certain because the university is reputed and is one of the leading universities in the world and in Europe.

The pay package could be between 24000 to 50000 pounds a year if not more.

 

To me, the degree makes you eligible for the higher level job, but it's only a gatekeeper. You still need the ability.

 

I agree that education does not guarantee that someone will have the aptitude for a position. However, in my experience education has played a more significant role in the hiring process than you mention. I worked as part of a team in which each team members had input into the process of hiring a new team member. We looked at both industry experience and education. Similarly, I have seen quite a few job ads that say something such as 3 years of experience with a master’s or 5 years experience without a master’s.

 

I guess it depends on the position you are hiring for. For me.

Education - Bachelors required. Anything additional is nice, but not required.

Relevant Certifications - A plus in my book.

Communication Skills - Essential. Almost a gatekeeper item. Regardless of anything else, someone with poor communication skills would go to the bottom of the list.

Past Experience/Accomplishments - Very Important

References - Useless

 

Who's minding the gate?

Could a factor also be that acquiring education itself used to be part of the gatekeeping process?

However, in today's consumer driven culture, education is no longer a process but a product?

Instructors are now often hamstrung by the belief that an honest appraisal of a student's sub-standard work will result in reprisals against the instructor.

"You can't fail me -- I paid for this!"

Just a thought ...

 

Re: It is still uncertain!

Vinod,

You're doing your 'thinking out loud' thing again...

These are subjective questions nobody can answer. I am currently spending £13000.00 on a UK MBA. Will it be worth it? I'm sure it will, for the confidence it will give me, for the validation of the knowledge I already possess with my current and possible future employers, for the sheer pride in having a masters level education.

Will the same be worth it for you? Depends what your motivation is for taking the course.

All I would say is don't dilute the effort. Of course there is an abundance of courses out there, but there is not an abundance of real high quality MBAs. Choose wisely and approach the course positively with a firm idea of what it will do for you and you will succeed. As others have suggested an MBA may unlock a door, but the same door will soon slam shut if you don't produce the goods.

All the best,

Dave C.

 

I see we are on the same page with regards to the qualifications necessary when hiring someone. in order of importance, from most to least, I would rank the criteria as follows: experience/accomplishments (essential), communication skills (essential), education (nice to have), certifications (nice to have, but not essential), and references (why bother).

What can "you" do for the organization? <-- not asking you personally

 

I noticed several of you regard communication skills very highly in your hiring decisions. Can you elaborate a bit more on this? Do you look at both oral and written skills the same or does one outweigh the other?

 

Also, how do you determine if one has good communication skills other than how they present during the interview?

 

Evaluate the way they've organized and phrased the elements of their resume.

 

I get it. Look at the resume and see how they present during the interview. However, these may not be true indicators of whether a person is a good facilitator and can handle the pressure of leading a large project meeting with competing interest. Although, you have the same dilemma when hiring for any position. Perhaps some type of experience based testing would be a better indicator.