The Higher Education Bubble

I stumbled across an article this morning that a colleague from many moons ago had posted on her facebook page. It delved into the conundrum of the “higher education bubble”, poised to burst due to the overvalued nature of higher education – just like the housing market did not so long ago.  Peter Thiel, Paypal co-founder and all-round money-making guru, offered some insight into this:

http://techcrunch.com/2011/04/10/peter-thiel-were-in-a-bubble-and-its-not-the-internet-its-higher-education/

Sadly, he’s pretty much on the mark. But this is not a new concept. In 2010, Glenn Reynolds, writing in The Examiner, conceptualized "the higher education bubble."

Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/higher-education-bubble-poised-burst#ixzz1JH6JKPHF

Over the recent years, I have also begun to wonder whether kids today are just expected to go to University – whether or not they have any idea what they want to do!

Something that spurred this thought was a conversation that I had with my mother-in-law. Termite damage permeated through a large chunk of her TV room in about 2008. Luckily for her, she doesn’t watch too much TV and has not been too put out by the fact that the renovations have still to be completed!

These days, it is difficult to find a decent builder, plumber or other tradesman. Is it due to a shortage in people undertaking apprenticeships? Or are the same numbers of people undertaking apprenticeships, but the demand is higher now as the population grows? Or is it that there are too many people enrolled to pursue a useless higher education degree, thrust upon them as they leave their protective high schools?

The current tradesmen are flooded with work - in Brisbane, at least - to the extent that people, like my mother-in-law, are waiting upwards of two years to have some basic work completed on their house!

The Rudd Government, in 2010, proposed to ensure that 40% of Australians aged between 25 and 34 years will have bachelor level qualifications by 2025. In 2006, the figure was just below 30%, and 32% in 2008, Australia-wide. The new projection is a huge figure. Furthermore, they want almost 50% of these students to have attained a Bachelor's degree.

Its seems that the Australian government is in favour of more people holding degrees. Is it wise to keep creating more and more university spaces?

Check out this blog from the AGE last year - it has some interesting feedback from their readers.
http://blogs.theage.com.au/thirddegree/archives/2010/04/uni_for_the_masses.html

It appears to me that degrees are being handed out a dime-a-dozen. It’s not to say that these students don’t deserve their degrees – I am sure they worked very hard. But there is now a lot of very highly educated unemployed 20-somethings moving back home, desperately applying to any job for which they are likely overqualified, simply because there just isn’t enough positions available for them to fill!

Does Australia need more people with university degrees or should we start to focus more on vocational education and training courses?
 

Please tell me your thoughts…