Grooming graduates with an extra edge

By Sandra Davie, The Straits Times, 29 Jun 2012

Can a university education better your job prospects and buy you the good life?

THE answer to this question is simply 'yes'. To a large extent, a university degree is and will be considered by most people as the holy grail of education.

No wonder, desiring parents lauded Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally announcement last year that the number of university places would be increased. Some even suggested that his target, to absorb 30 per cent of each student cohort by 2015, seemed low; they wanted enough places to soak up 40 per cent.

After all, most feel that a degree is the minimum requirement for strong job prospects and a higher quality of life.

A committee set up by the Education Ministry to study the feasibility of more places and pathways in higher education has noted that more places are indeed needed: first, to accommodate the rising calibre of students, and second, to prepare manpower needed for a more diversified Singapore economy.

But this committee has not specified the new cohort participation rate (CPR) - the percentage of Singaporeans in each Primary 1 cohort who will gain entry to local universities - that it may aim for after 2015.

The current rate is 27 per cent. This means that only a quarter of each Primary 1 cohort are offered places at local universities.

By 2015, more places will be added across the Singapore Institute of Technology, the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the Yale-National University of Singapore liberal arts college and the Nanyang Technological University's medical school, raising the CPR to 30 per cent.

The figures do not take into account the 5,000 to 8,000 students who head to universities overseas or pursue full-time degree studies at more established private schools here. Taken together, the rate would be closer to 50 per cent.

But simply upping the number of places at universities here addresses only one part of the question. What actually happens beyond graduation - and whether those degrees translate into better lives - is another matter.

To address the issue, we must consider if university graduates here earn more in their lifetime, and enjoy good job prospects.

Extensive research conducted in other parts of the world suggests that in deciding whether to invest in a degree, considering a pessimistic short run in which university graduates move into a shaky job market is short-sighted.

Recent figures released by the US-based Pew Research Centre showed that despite a weak economy in the United States, people with an undergraduate college degree still earn, on average, in excess of US$1 million (S$1.3 million) more over their lifespan than those without one.

Although figures here are not as up to date, a 2007 study on the returns on higher education by the Manpower Ministry (MOM) showed that every extra year of schooling enhances a worker's earnings by 13.7 per cent. The rate of return is also higher for tertiary education.

This means that a graduate with more years invested in academics generally earns more.

This study also found that as the economy shifts towards higher value-added and knowledge activities, demand for more educated workers will rise, thus enhancing the returns on higher levels of education.

When drilling down to differences between graduates and non-graduates, like polytechnic diploma holders, the former also generally enjoy better outcomes.

When the Singapore economy hit a speed bump three years ago, diploma holders fared better than graduates.

An MOM report for the third quarter of 2009 showed that among those unemployed, about 6 per cent were diploma holders while 22 per cent were degree holders. The same pattern was seen for redundancies, with fewer poly graduates laid off than university graduates.

Recruiters explained that poly students cost less to hire and retain, and possessed more practical skills that employers valued, especially in a downturn. Retrenched poly graduates were also more willing to take lower-paying jobs.

Nonetheless, in the subsequent upswing, the odds favoured university graduates.

Job prospects and salaries of degree holders recovered, and even overtook that of diploma holders. An MOM labour force report in 2010 showed that unemployment was 3.7 per cent for degree holders compared to 3.9 per cent for diploma holders.

The rosier picture for graduates, however, needs to be examined with some circumspection. For one, past data on graduate performance does not necessarily reflect future outcomes.

The opening up of more places might lead to a glut of graduates, particularly at times when job markets are unable to absorb them all.

South Korea, with an advanced economy like Singapore's, is a classic example. According to the Asian Sentinel, fewer than half of those who graduated in 2010 had found full-time jobs by the end of last year.

On another front, it is fairly obvious that not all college degrees are created equal. Returns on degrees in accountancy and law, as well as the sciences and engineering, are higher compared to those in social work, psychology and English.

Employers, including the civil service, also make a distinction between different types of institutions.

So far, employment prospects of graduates from publicly funded universities have remained on par, but the same cannot be said for graduates of private schools.

The first employment survey carried out by the Singapore Institute of Management released recently showed that while its graduates receive multiple job offers, they are typically paid several hundred dollars less each month than their peers from the publicly funded universities.

All these notes of caution lead to one thing: as the quantity of graduates increases, so should their quality. Only then can that piece of paper lead to better outcomes.

Beyond the paper chase

THE issue before the Government is not merely expanding university places, but offering more choices and high-quality education to students.

So while all universities must turn out graduates with deep knowledge and useful skills, they should also place as much attention on innovating and cultivating in them an X factor.

Take the Singapore Management University (SMU), which at its outset in 2000 introduced American-style admission, curriculum and teaching in Singapore. Four years later, employers receiving its first graduates noted an 'SMU difference' - they were more polished and well-spoken.

Now, the university review committee looking into setting up a fifth university has been studying different university models in Europe, Asia and the US, to arrive at one that will serve students and the needs of the Singapore economy.

Its main target: polytechnic graduates, several thousand of whom head overseas or attend private schools to top up their diplomas with degrees.

The 15-member committee headed by Minister of State for Education Lawrence Wong is rightly looking at universities which put a premium on hands-on learning and applied real-world research, namely those in Hong Kong, the US and Germany.

Drexel University, a private institution in Philadelphia, was of special interest for its unique cooperative education programme.

All its undergraduates are required to combine job internships with studying for their degrees, graduating only after five years, rather than the typical four, having completed up to 18 months of relevant work experience.

This system has been found to give them a much-needed edge over other fresh graduates in a tough job market.

On another recent visit to study Germany's applied universities and work-study programmes, Mr Wong said his committee was definitely leaning towards a practice-oriented university that could offer close links to industry, as well as programmes that combine work and study.

This model would build on the strengths of poly-trained graduates, who are notably more hands-on workers and attuned to the practical needs of industry and business.

To be sure, making room for such diversity in higher education is a step towards improving the quality of graduates.

Preparing graduates to be adaptable and to stay relevant to market needs will also ensure that the degree is not just a paper chase, but continues, over time, to net positive outcomes in terms of pay and opportunities.

Earning might not equal learning
By Sandra Davie, The Straits Times, 29 Jun 2012

GREATER standardisation and computerisation of white-collar work and an increase in graduate numbers might be challenging the notion that 'learning equals earning'.

So say British social scientists Phillip Brown, Hugh Lauder and David Ashton in their book, The Global Auction: The Broken Promises Of Education, Jobs And Incomes. Speaking to The Straits Times, Professor Brown, 55, from Cardiff University, said a university education is better seen as an opportunity to pursue subjects students are passionate about and find intellectually exciting.

Changing how they choose, he added, 'would also offer Singapore a better chance of creating a new generation of innovators and inventors who go that extra mile because they are doing it out of genuine interest rather than simply for the money'.

Policymakers worldwide regularly link tertiary education to individual and national economic advancement. A knowledge-based economy, in fact, promotes the belief that more highly educated workers are needed to do the world's thinking, while workers in emerging economies are limited to low-skill, low-wage jobs in manufacturing or service work, such as in call centres.

The thinking was this: Going to college equals writing a cheque with a lifetime guarantee of a well-paid job.

Yet underlying assumptions to this might be flawed. When he and his fellow authors spoke to business leaders and policymakers in China, India and South Korea, as well as those in the United States, Britain and Germany, they discovered there was a global auction for high-skill, low-wage work.

Employees may want to increase the value of their labour and earn higher wages, but companies wanting to maximise profits aim to lower their labour costs. So they will go where they can find workers with the skills they need, but who are prepared to accept more modest wages.

The dampening effect on graduates' salaries is exacerbated by oversupply. In the past 10 years, undergraduate numbers have doubled. China alone has more university students than the US, and 'is also producing more scientists and engineers, sometimes of a superior quality to those found in the West'.

At the same time, companies are now able to make low-cost products to world-quality standards. Multinationals, bolstered by government policies and the localised graduate boom, are placing R&D facilities alongside factories in those countries, close to booming new consumer markets.

All this has expedited Digital Taylorism. Taylorism refers to the large-scale, assembly-line manufacturing principles laid down by US industrial engineer Frederick Taylor. Digital Taylorism occurs when white-collar work is broken down into elements. The elements are standardised and computerised, such that they can be delivered by low-skilled, low- wage labour.

In addition to outsourcing of white-collar, back-office jobs such as data inputting, he explained: 'Now the middle office is going too. Analysing X-rays, drawing up legal contracts and processing tax returns are examples of skilled jobs going offshore.' These developments have created what he terms 'a global war for talent' for the best and the brightest. So while a university graduate can get a job, 'he would have to work harder, longer hours to keep the job'.

What's more, class distinctions among graduate workers are also emerging.

'There will be a cadre of thinkers and decision-makers at the top - perhaps 10 per cent or 15 per cent of the total - but the mass of employees, whether or not they hold high qualifications, will perform routine functions for modest wages.'

Those with elite qualifications are more likely to be made 'thinkers', leaving those with garden-variety university degrees to be 'doers'.

In England, this trend has left about a third of graduates with outstanding education loans from as far back as 1998 high and dry - they have not even reached the required modest re-payment salary level. Whether this group eventually sees a payoff depends on how well their society delivers new opportunities.

To students contemplating further education, he says: 'Follow your dreams but also do your homework.'

Ask hard questions about your reasons for getting a degree, which colleges offer high-quality education and if you can get the job you want after graduation.

'However you look at it, going to university gives you more chances of getting a job, even if it doesn't deliver the house, the big car and holidays that everyone in professional jobs seems to have in the movies.'