What's the difference between a Bachelor of Arts degree and a pizza? A pizza can feed an entire family.
Yes, we've all heard the joke and been subjected to the scorn of students who believe their degrees are more superior when compared to humanities degrees. It is no secret; universities are filled with some students who want to degrade certain degrees because they believe they are doing the degree that will guarantee them a job in their respective industry.
McGraw-Hill Education is an educational content publisher, considered as one of the big three educational content providers in the world. They have conducted a study titled the 2016 Workforce Readiness Survey that investigated which industry's graduates exuded the most confidence for postgraduate employment prospects. The study saw McGraw-Hill surveying 1,360 American college students between March 2016 and April 206. They interviewed both undergraduates and postgraduates.
Group president of U.S. education for McGraw-Hill Education said: "Every college graduate deserves to enter the workforce with the confidence that their degree was worth the investment."
Their study revealed that 73 percent of students who study science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees believe they are the most employable. The more worrying statistic, however, is that 40 percent of "college seniors" think their "college experience" is instrumental in landing them a job. It's 61 percent of liberal arts students that think their degrees are not worth much once they graduate from university.
When students were surveyed about how they think technology factors into their studies, 85 percent of students said using technology in a lecture and using it as a study tool would further equip them to be attractive to employers. It seems students are hungry for practical work in classes, and less theory.
Furthermore, when graduated alumni were quizzed about the use of technology, 96 percent of them conceded that practically working with tangible technology would definitely lead to better employment options in the current climate of employable graduates. The scary bit is, McGraw-Hill Education says that the number of students actively using "workplace-related" technology is sitting at 26 percent.
Now for the nitty gritty. 62 percent of students said that if they had the chance to choose different major without the heavy tuition fees, they would have chosen different majors.
So, whilst STEM graduates are confident that they are entering the workplace, we're not certain that these graduates have the technical know-how for the industries they're going into. However, engineering students - based on the study - are definitely still the most confident that they have a definite part to play as an employed member of society.
