Why I believe the value of degrees will dilute
Mr Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s Minister for Education, was at an inaugural ministerial forum organised by Singapore Management University yesterday evening. At the forum, Mr Heng assured students that the expansion of university sector will not dilute the value of degrees (ChannelsNewsAsia, TODAY). I agree that a degree’s worth “goes beyond economic value” and an university education is more than just a paper qualification but also the cultivation of character and values.
Mr Heng argued that the expansion of university sector is to build “critical mass” as “a bigger talent pool attracts more jobs to Singapore” (TODAY, 1 Feb 2012). He also explained that the Education Ministry’s focus is not to calibrate the supply of graduates with expected industry demand but ensure economic vibrancy (ChannelsNewsAsia, 31 Jan 2012). That is to say the Education Ministry’s focus is to ensure the 11th graduate in a 10-graduate economy attracts a new job to Singapore for him.
It’s a chicken or the egg causality dilemma, job availability first or graduate first? That makes calibrating supply of graduates with expected industry demand virtually impossible hence I respect the Ministry’s non-focus. Whether we start the argument with job availability or graduate first, an investor will basically ask 3 questions:
- Does an economy has the adequately-skilled labour?
- Can the skilled labour fit into the home country/company culture with least cost?
- How much is the skilled labour?
And this is how I think we are doing:
- I have faith in Singapore’s education sector that our economy can provide adequately-skilled labour.
- Mr Heng shared that adaptability and “being able to work with others would give Singaporeans an advantage as cross-cultural collaboration becomes more essential in the future” (TODAY, 1 Feb 2012). It is apparent from tertiary curriculum and overseas programmes that the Ministry is building cross-cultural awareness and understanding in undergraduates. The cultural dissonance is being mitigated.
- This third question bothers me. Companies and investors look at their bottom-lines. Even our publicly traded Public Transport Corporations, Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) and ComfortdDelGro, very much do.
With the high cost of business operations and standards of living in Singapore, especially in this times of uncertainty, it is no surprise that investors are willing to forfeit culturally-apt adequately-skilled labour for cheaper alternatives. Is it possible that we will one day have too many graduates for too few available jobs? I would say yes, if it is not already happening i.e. underemployed and/or underpaid graduates. The basic economic theory of demand and supply will apply, it will take longer for any investment into tertiary education to be worthwhile.
This is just about attracting the 11th job into Singapore’s economy, we have not even started discussing about jobs that are relocating out of Singapore yet…
So job availability first or graduate first? That is probably not the right question to ask. At the macro-level, we should ask how can we keep cost of business operations and standards of living in Singapore competitive so we do not deter companies and investors from bringing jobs into our economy of culturally-apt and adequately-skilled labour. Until the Education Ministry has a grasp over economic vibrancy especially the issue of cost, I believe the economic value of degrees will dilute.
At the individual-level, Mr Heng reminded that an university degree is “not a guarantee of a job and of job success”. Hence uphold highest moral character and integrity, have drive and confidence because paper qualification gets you the interview/job but those are the qualities which will help you succeed in life beyond economic measures.
What do you think?
