To be honest, I think that a lot of degrees are unnecessary anyway. Most jobs asking for degrees, NVQs, etc, etc, do so because HR departments have become lazy and simply specify certain qualifications to pre-sift potential candidates, but many, many of these jobs could be done just as well by bright clever people who didn’t take the degree for whatever reason.

Certification and where you learned often means more than qualifications. Degree requirements used especially in the public and education sector to squeeze out applicants perfectly qualified often in favour of making the hiring process appear impartial or to make the weeding out process of the HR department easier.

Obviously, knowledge is required for certain jobs – I certainly wouldn’t want to be operated on by a neighbour’s son who had come straight in from school, but let’s be honest, medical school teaches basics of the job, not the specifics. A surgeon operating on you will have acquired the skills under the watchful eye of colleagues, not lecturers.

I am always amazed when I read of the variety of career opportunities available in countries where education is expensive and paid for that can be joined for training, but would require a degree here. We should focus more on creating children who can read, write and do sums and then give them the chance to enter jobs at a younger age, working their way up without the obligation of a degree.

I’ve worked with a large variety of people during my career and I can assure everyone that working with people with degrees could often be an eye opener. It is true that many subjects have become debased and, more worryingly, the holders of the degrees also hold a sense of entitlement which is quite undeserved.

More entrance exams, less degree courses may well be the way forward.

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‘We know the qualifications needed for the future success of the UK in the world economy?’

Statement or question ? Do we ? What are they ?

‘I’m not clear what “media studies” is, but I suspect it is a course where those whose success at school was primarily due to a “dumbed down” curriculum, can continue not learning at taxpayers’ expense. (And not clog up the unemployment statistics). So a high tariff for media studies!’

So without knowing what Media Studies is, or it appears knowing whether it is needed for the future success of the UK you wish to penalise those who want to learn it.

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I have not employed one degree student in the past 5 years.

Most have no common sense and fail to even produce ideas to every day problem solving.

To even suggest someone with letters after their name are amongst the highly educated in this modern day society is a complete joke.

The badly written letters, complete lack of research done by individuals writing to my company wanting jobs commenting they are completing their last year in a degree makes me wonder if they are still in junior school.

The problem lies with parents who insist on little Billy having letters after nis name and assume that that is the best way forward for their offspring. However are often then left to wonder why he is working in a call centre at the age of 30.

I don’t know why the writer picks out Media Studies, but I did a media related course where in 1989 4,500 students applied for 12 places on a course. in 2010 only 3 still work in the industry. The problem lies from Maths to English to basically everything. There IS a need to clamp down though.

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OK, so you think Warner Brothers fix base in Hertfordshire is not ‘needed for the future success of the UK in the world economy’

A new £100m complex adding 300 additional jobs to the current workforce of 1,500 people.

Why did they chose the UK to be a base for producing MULTI Million pound films.

Because we have the talent people they want, that have done media studies and associated studies and skills.

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Peter J H Sharman writes:

“I’m not clear what “media studies” is, but I suspect it is a course where those whose success at school was primarily due to a “dumbed down” curriculum, can continue not learning at taxpayers’ expense. (And not clog up the unemployment statistics). So a high tariff for media studies!”

So, Peter, you’re writing a letter calling for a higher tariff for those who wish to study a course you blithely admit you know nothing about, based on nothing more than your ‘suspicions’.

You’ve clearly not even done even a cursory amount of research into what this course involves and how it can equip someone for the workplace or help them understand and interpret the world around them.

Perhaps the current furore involving Vince Cable and Rupert Murdoch might suggest to you that the media has a huge influence on society, and is therefore a relevant subject for study.

Why do you think countries like China censor and control their media, why did Tony Blair court the approval of Rupert Murdoch?

Have you read any prospectuses from Universities, or spoken to teachers, students, lecturers etc?

God forbid anyone in power should listen to
your proudly uninformed approach to policy-making.

Two words come to mind when reading this letter: lazy and prejudiced.

Spot on indeed!

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