im_not_a_rapper on Nostr: "RETHINKING UNIVERSITIES" "As the economy became more modernised with an increase in ...

"RETHINKING UNIVERSITIES"

"As the economy became more modernised with an increase in mass literacy, more and more people especially now are participating in universities and graduating which is something that labour economists take into consideration. One famous labour economic model proposed by Michael Spence was about education being a form of market signalling to employers about the productivity of an individual but since the employer now has more information about the productivity of graduates as job market is over-saturated with graduates, their beliefs have changed and the expectations of graduates have changed."

"Now employers are less likely to invest in graduates as they realise the gap to the perceived levels of productivity and the actual levels of productivity is very different but it doesn't mean that university is entirely useless but now it is seen as a minimum requirement to be perceived to be at a certain level of productivity meanwhile those who are unable to afford to do it are still under the perception of the employer to have the same level of productivity as someone with less qualifications as both he and the other individual. Now as apprentices and tradesman are now seen as more productive with their work expierence, will employers change their belief if there is an over saturation of people who have work experience? Whilst this subject to another discussion, it is important to highlight this as it demonstrates the undeniable correlation between education levels and the labour markets and from the perspective of Michael Spence, education levels can be perceived by others as a form of market signalling."

"Whilst some are idealistic about of the idea that universities is a gathering of intellectuals, universities still are perceived as buildings of 'high status' as graduates are unable to find a job. But it didn't seem that these graduates ever knew that universities are really research centers when they explored the university as if it was another state school or high school. Contrary to the views of others, many youngsters are ruthlessly pragmatic as they see the university as a means to an end in obtaining a job with high salary. Thus we have explored the correlation between status and education levels."

"The masses do seem to complain about PhD candidates not showing practical research that has some utility in it and in their attempt in showing this, they focus on researchers in humanities subjects. It does seem this crowd of people are quite inconsistent towards the subjects of stem when there are numerous topics within those subjects that do not have practical utility and it is notable that this rage is not directed at mathematicians who are known for engaging in a lot of abstract calculations. It could be argued that some of the research conducted is practically useless but if we look at what may interest us for example a fasnciating observation of how animal express their emotions. Now if we look at the job market, what kind of employer cares about this? An accountant? A lawyer? A mechanic? But what about researchers. If you explore or list down some of the interesting things you've thought about or looked at, ask yourself, does knowing these things help you find a job? One does need to understand there is a huge sunk costs to research but if someone is serious about building research centers, sunk costs is something to endure. Whilst it is the case you might get some 'useless' research but practically speaking, this is part of the buraeucracy of the research process. It something that is likely to happen."

"The question arises is, what do you do? A suggestion is to introduce big changes. What is meant by big, in this case is that it so big that the employers feels that they're entering the unknown but not to the extent that they don't understand the system but to the extent of which they struggle to guess the exact productivity of a worker. What these big changes mean is that it avoids resembling the current university system otherwise the employers are probably going to think that these changes are mainly to do with adminstration stuff or some different curtains. So these changes involve some big structural changes. The aim of this is to bring back the effectiveness of the market signalling aspect of university education."

"In terms of the 'status' aspect involved in universities, the islamist need to take into consideration of what they want the 'elite' to look like? Does the islamist want the elite to be handsome pious polymaths who are fluent classical arabic? Does the islamist want some physical appearance tests? Does the islamist want tests about classical Arabic? Does the islamist want examinations which tests someone's knowledge of Islam? Does the islamist want to use these exams as a prerequisite for entry into this system? What about the research process? What aspect of that needs to change?"

"An obvious trade off in reducing the number of students in universities is that the number of students who are willing to do research probably decreases. So what is a method which offsets this tradeoff? The changes to offset this tradeoff involve changing the lower stages of the educational system i.e. elementary and high school such that there is two systems where one is a pipeline towards research centers and the other is a pipeline to jobs such as accountants, tradesman etc. This research system could be implemented via suggesting to the parents of the child that this person has a particular talent which could be utilised in specialist schools which train the kid into working on his/her special talent. Meanwhile the other system could be a certification system with the basic literacy test attached to it. This cerificiation system could include pipelines to 'high status' jobs such as consultancy and other jobs without entering university. Now some might say, there are jobs that do require a level of university education and the certification system could adjust to this with specific high status jobs that require university education being attached to specific ladders within the certification system. For example an IT technician who doesn't necessarily need university education who has a certificate could use his ceritfication to unlock the next door to higher status job that actually requires university education."

"Whilst there are some other suggestions to look at in terms of changing the university system, it's important to remember the following things about is big changes, taking into consideration about university being perceived as 'high status' and changes to the lower stages of the educational system."