Academic Knowledge or On-Job Skills: What Is More Important?

More and more businesses across the globe are now looking for new recruits with the right skills, knowledge and qualifications. But if you think that means more job opportunities for you, then you need to think again. If you want to make the most of these employment opportunities then you need to ensure that you have exactly what the employers want. Studies show that currently there is a “skills gap” in the business world as there is a dearth of skilled employees needed for the technologically-inclined companies.

Are Graduates Job ready?

It was recently found that millennial in the workforce, who were polled by Deloitte, noticed a strong disassociation between the skills employers value in the workplace and the knowledge they have acquired in university. So are colleges incompetent in creating job-ready graduates? Can colleges prepare students for the corporate world? Take a look...

This has now become a looming question in the US as more than 2 million students are about to graduate. According to the responses of over 8,000 millennials, who were surveyed by the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. (Deloitte Global) regarding the necessary skills for the workplace, it seems that most colleges and universities are unable to make graduates job-ready. The surveyed professionals think that the educational knowledge and analytical skills they acquired during higher education have not been able to significantly help them in fulfilling their daily responsibilities. Instead, the skills which they learn while on the job have proved to be more beneficial. Hence, these young professionals believe that such on-the-job skills are more crucial in helping them accomplish the overall goals of the business as well as their personal career goals in the long term.

When the young professionals were asked that how helpful the skills they acquired in college compared with professional skills they gained since graduation, around 63 per cent of respondents claimed on-the-job skills were more beneficial; while 37 per cent said academic knowledge was more helpful in achieving overall organisational goals. Moreover, when they were urged to rate both types of skills regarding what they think employers value more and the skills which express their personal strengths, the responses of the millennials show that there is a skills gap.

Need for the Right Training

The Deloitte survey ultimately suggests that companies need to heavily invest in training and development for their employees so that graduates can make significant contributions in accomplishing organisational objectives. One of the most effective and affordable ways employers can do this is by encouraging and supporting their employees to study a relevant online degree.

In fact, if you are a young professional then studying an online programme from any reputed UK university can actually help you to develop the right skills and boost your employability. One of the biggest advantages of studying online from UK is that you will not only gain quality academic knowledge, but will also be able to develop on the job skills simultaneously. As online courses allow you to study in flexible and convenient way, you can study while employed in a full time job. In fact, most businesses are now opting for candidates with online degrees as they have both experience and an accredited qualification.

The fact is earning an affordable UK university degree online can be highly beneficial for you as it will help you in reducing the skills gap and make the most of the available career opportunities.

How are you planning to close the skills gap? Share your thoughts and concerns with us. Simply comment in the box below.

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Why is there shortage of teachers in UK schools?

Earning money is not always linked with knowledge. Especially, if the knowledge is abstract and theoretical, seeing the practical life from a bird's eye view and trying to find the underlying reality or significance of it, the root cause or nature, like in philosophy; or, like in mathematics, where truth is expressed independent of the physical world, purely from realisation, introspection or soul-search, then it is of little practical use in an increasingly materialistic world.

Love of wisdom has been replaced by love of money, and as people become more and more hedonistic, scores of people are making their way from basic sciences to commerce and technical fields. But, for character building and providing basic foundational theoretical knowledge for application, study in general line is essential. As applicational subjects with tangible practical effects in the material world, become more and more popular, for making money, in this world of information technology and also as their visible effect (presence) can be felt easily understandably, subjects apart from these key subjects providing theoretical foundation of applied sciences are lacking good teachers day by day.

As bright minds of society are indoctrinated and attracted towards cheap material publicity and fame and glory and satisfaction, in this shallow society, apart from especially devoted ones, schools and colleges and universities alike face shortage of dedicated teachers on theoretical, unproductive, but enlightening subjects, that might awaken and illuminate conscious cognition of the real, original ideal pure enough and uncontaminated of practical perversions.

Reflecting on the practical problem

Subjects or fields that are specifically facing the problem of shortage of teachers, are as follows :

1) First comes foreign languages, that are especially at risk in facing shortage of teachers. As these subjects are specifically selected by those who are amateur in nature, pursuing the discipline just for the sake of knowledge and appreciation of beauty and aesthetics and depth and accuracy, devoted learners and scholars of that disposition who can teach, are becoming harder to find.

2) Subjects in 'religious-studies' department are finding it hard too to find teachers, as those are struggling to keep its relevance in this increasingly more and more secularised world.

3) Subjects like 'Geography' also are in the list of sufferers.

The practical problem in hike in fees and resulting hike in number of dropouts in graduation courses, has exacerbated the problem of getting qualified teachers in respective fields, as cause.

The General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, explains the problem of teacher shortage : “I have spoken to numerous headteachers who have had no applicants at all for non-core subjects. I recently spoke to one who was looking for a geography teacher and he just couldn’t get one single applicant.”

Surmounting the problem is the fact that people, even competent ones, are avoiding taking responsibility in highly-reputed schools, as the obvious cause of shunning accountability for even marginal failure to fulfil high expectation with rigour. 

To explain this he adds, “Teachers are very aware of the pressures that come with those high-performing schools and the workload that arises from that. Some people are put off by what they see as heavy-handed accountability and the long-hours culture.”

All in all, UK is facing unheard of problem of recruiting qualified teachers in schools, like never before.

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