Chapter 6: Value of Degrees: A Need for a New Way of Looking at Higher Education

The primary purpose of education ought to be to provide time and space for people to learn new things, identify personal development challenges and discover what they want to become (see Robinson, 2005). However, it seems that people’s critical expectations from higher education have changed in recent decades, and the principal purpose of the institutions seems to be the development of specific capacities for achieving academic degrees that will allow people to get the best professional opportunities and have a productive future.

The most critical way to achieve a successful job position and promote themselves is through a curriculum vitae (CV). Through the CVs, recruits can target the most suitable person for their organization because they can look at his scholastic and prestigious achievements and infer their productivity and skills. Indeed, an applicant with a PhD from a prestigious university is probably more brilliant, diligent or competent than someone with a lower degree and from a less prominent educational institution.