As university graduates box up their caps and gowns for the summer and embark on the world of work, they might be surprised to learn that senior executives value a diploma far less than skills or contacts.
This was the key finding of a flash poll of 950 senior executives across the world fielded in May and June by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Of eight factors respondents believe have most impacted their career prospects and progression, their most recent higher education degree ranked a low fifth.
Chart 1: What has has the biggest impact on your career prospects and progression?
Not surprisingly, one’s skillset was believed to have most impacted their career (chosen by 44% of respondents.) Trailing in second through fourth place are career development opportunities in their organization (13%), personal connections (11%) and the growth of the industry in which they work (11%). In fifth place, just 8% of respondents considered their most recent higher education degree as the key lever in their career prospects and progression.
The findings come at a time when many question the high costs of post-secondary schooling, particularly at elite universities – and their payback. Spiraling debt levels with few prospects for quick repayment are pushing young people to reconsider post-secondary education and perhaps instead pivot into the lower levels of professions with growing opportunities, or to attend 2-year trade schools. One in eight Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 are currently unemployed. Record under-25 joblessness of 24% across the Eurozone last October sparked similar soul searching
In parallel, yawning skills gaps are pushing executives to reevaluate how the skills and tools young people need to meet company needs are acquired and refined – and who should fit the bill. Roughly 4 million US jobs were unfilled in 2013, in industries such as healthcare, manufacturing and construction. The fact that respondents ranked skills first and a higher degree fifth suggests that increasingly senior executives view skills as decoupled from higher education, with those skills learned and honed after graduation.
At a time when those aged 15 to 24 make up nearly 20% of the global population – 85% of the total in developing nations – and global youth joblessness is 13% -- twice the global unemployment rate – the world is watching the higher education debate. Globally, 40% of the unemployed are youth.
Other notable EIU Flash poll findings include how much value respondents placed on their degree, based on their cost. Those who paid less for their degree (much or slightly less than the cost of a similar degree in their country) value their degree more than those who paid more (slightly more or much more). Roughly 73% of the former group said that their latest degree impacted their career a great deal or played a pivotal role in their career versus 66% in the latter group.
Chart 2: How would you say this degree has impacted your career prospects?
These flashpoll findings dovetail with similar US state-based research in recent months, which suggest that graduates of two-year technical schools in the US may out earn their peers from four-year programs in the early years—though that difference may reverse over time. As the US higher education landscape changes, many European or Asian private graduate schools may take heed.
