Cannot progress without a degree... 😡

[Hmmmmminteresting]

I'm early 30s. I chose not to go to uni and to instead do 2 years at a business college (qualifications do not equal a degree, they were less). I then was promoted to an office manager at the age of 22 to 25, managing 17 people. Since moved on to a job I love and have been there 7 years. In this company you cannot progress without a degree. They are 100% adamant, 2:1 or more is minimum. They dont take any of your history into account. So many people getting promoted above me with no managerial experience but have a degree in random subjects not relevant. A few have since left as they just weren't suitable for that role.
I know I could do it and I have been told by so many others that it's frustrating I'm not qualified enough as I would be first choice.
AIBU to think this is a pretty old fashioned way of thinking?
I dont want to leave the company, I just wish they would change their rules.

I agree with you OP. It’s academic elitism. What should matter is whether you can do the job. If the degree enables you to do the job then fair enough. If the job doesn’t require degree-level knowledge or academic skills however, it’s a joke. I actually think it’s discriminatory, not that you could ever build a case.
Unfortunately I think your best option if you want to stay with the company is to do a distance learning/part time degree. Ask if they will let you do it while in role?

@Thelnebriati the OU did away with residential schools 3 years ago! I did my honours degree with the OU from 2012 to 2016 and attended one of the last ever residential schools in 2016. I'm now just coming to the end of my masters degree with the OU and there are still no residential schools.

Thanks again for all the replies.
To confirm in case some missed it upthread, my employer wont help anyone out to get the degree. They neither encourage or discourage it. They basically tell you it's your choice but it cannot impact work. They also dont care what it is in or where it was obtained. Just has to be a 2:1 minimum.
The issue that I have is that I'm very well paid where I am - they are the industry leader. If I leave to go elsewhere even the next level above where I am doesnt pay nearly as well as I am on now, so it wont benefit me financially unless I keep climbing the ladder, of which there is no guarantee of that.
I've arranged a meeting with HR for 18th Feb to discuss all of this with them. I no longer accept that it's okay for me to not be qualified to do a job that I'm training people to do.
If HR meeting doesnt get me anywhere my options are stay exactly where I am, go to the OU or leave. I'll have to really consider my choices.
Thanks again

@Thelnebriati if you read the link you added fully, you will see that those unable to attend the school can do ALE. i.e. From home.

This is what is devaluing degrees. I have seen admin roles that state a degree is required. Sensible companies advertise degree or work experience.

I work in HE and I still state that because of these policies it is devaluing the degrees students are leaving with.

My husband is having similar issues - he has worked his way up without a degree, has been head hunted several times and can ask a decent amount of money for his daily rate (he is a contractor) but now he wants to move locations he is finding he cannot without a degree. It is a ridiculous situation sometimes.

Do a degree then, really failing to see the issue here. You need a degree to do many jobs in life, it’s just the way it is. Buckle down and get on with it like millions of others do.

Have you considered skipping the degree and going straight to a higher qualification like a postgraduate certificate? Many institutions now value professional experience over degrees as entry requirements. These are faster and tend to be more evidence-based work. In the long run cheaper too as they are usually one year or two if part time.
You must do some research.

Good for you for taking it to HR OP. Interested to hear what they say. Seems like a ridiculous policy, particularly because the degree itself is completely irrelevant to the job. I'd like to see them make a business case to explain how you can continue teaching how to do the job yet not be considered able to do it....

Btw....I know what you've said about OU taking years to complete etc. Just going on what you've said about employer not caring where/what degree was in - I did an english degree and there was only 6 hours of contact time required, and you didn't even need to physically attend those lectures, the powerpoint went up on the online blackboard. I lived with people who did history, social studies and other 'humanities' subjects - they all attended about three lectures in three years and all got a 2.1. and this was in a very well regarded, redbrick, russell group etc. university, only a few years ago.

Depending on subject I'm sure you could achieve a 2.1 with minimal effort. According to 2019 results nearly four our of five students now graduate with 2.1 or higher.

-just to be clear before anyone jumps down my throat - this isn't disparaging 'arts' subjects which I think are very worthwhile, and which can be as hard as science/maths based subjects - it's just showing how ridiculous our current university system is where there is no distinction between someone who did fuck all and scraped a 59.5 average (rounded up to a 2.1) and the person who worked really hard for three years and got one bad mark which brought them down to 69.4 (also 2.1) It's one of the rare areas where I think somewhere like the US, with their GPA, does things better.

As someone else mentioned perhaps do a master's rather than a degree . You could study locally or OU. A masters will cost less than a degree, can your employers give some funding towards the cost is worth asking? Study part time over 2/3 years perhaps as a master's is full on . You could find something really interesting to compliment your experience and this will move you up the career ladder either with your current employer or else where. Go and look online and see what subjects interest you and look at prerequisites not forgetting your fabulous wealth of experience will count to gain access. Go for it , good luck x

I've been trying to get a degree for years. I did one module before funding was cut. People who want to progress are getting to do them. But I don't want to be a band 6. My mum has now decided they will find it for me. Which is very kind. But I don't think they should, on principle.

Crackers, isn’t it? The tide is changing though with increasing numbers of young people opting for apprenticeships. That said, what about the MBA route?

Feel sorry for your friend being overlooked, someone with vast amounts of experience and who are good should always trump those with qualifications. My middle daughter is now a director to a Marketing Company, she’s the only one in our family without one, but she has an exceptionally shrewd head on young shoulders plus she recently bought herself a house (without financial assistance from us). I wish your friend all the very best.

I wonder if you can take action on the basis of discrimination. Particularly if people with completely unrelated degrees have been promoted. Academic institutions have survived too long on Mickey Mouse degrees. My nephew goes back to uni around October after a long summer. Insane given the fees he is paying. The uni money go round gas to stop. It serves noone except overpaid uni management. Most theory can be learned online. The rest is down to practical experience which you have in spades.

Sorry to jump on this but @7Worfs have you got any more detail about the qualifications you mentioned?

haben read the whole thread but I have worked in plenty of places where degrees were/are not needed for progression but where they look at performance etc.

You can progress without a degree - but not with your current employer. If you want to move up, I would look into changing jobs!

In response to a pp the underlying marks relating to a degree classification do matter. DS is aplying for PhD's and they are absolutely required.

Personally I am sickband tired of interviewing young people with degrees, sometimes masters degrees who can't string together a grammatical sentence or work out a percentage. I'd take a smart school leaver with top grade maths and English over a Post 92 graduate any day. The UK education system is absolutely bonkers and dumbed down. Nobody needs any old degree - professional or vocational qualifications related to the job, yes. MIL taught for 35 years and got awards for her teaching with just a 2 year teaching cert from Homerton in the late 50s. As a grammar school girl, she was far better educated than most of the teachers at my DC's outstanding primary where some of the teachers, whilst lovely, could not spell or punctuate and had confused ideas about the use of the present and past tense and were startlingly confused on occasion about labelling the y and x axes .

Sadly as a nation we have come to value being well qualified more highly than being well educated. A well educated person will deal with most things more competently than the person who is simply well qualified. It is very sad that the bar for University no longer requires an excellent foundation education which in most cases cannot be achieved retrospectively.

Speak to them and see if they have a study support scheme that will support you in doing a degree.
What exactly do you do? Some companies like degrees as they show an ability to research, collate data, essay write , analyse, and present as much as the subject studied. You chose not to do a degree and admit your alternative isn't at the same level therefore they consider you not to be qualified enough for senior management. This happens... I used to work in recruitment and know very experienced qualified by experience finance managers who have lost out to less experienced people who are qualified... c'est la vie I'm afraid

Just do a degree!

You are viewing at somehow really irrelevant, that it could never help you to be better in you current role. You clearly have no idea of the skills you will develop and how you personally will professionally develop. There is value in doing a degree and skills to be learned - research and writing skills, critical thinking, the application of knowledge, etc. - as well as what you will learn about the subject matter.

OP you need to do an apprenticeship - they aren't just for people who have just left school but you will need to move somewhere where they put less importance on degrees.

To be harsh, I doubt that your experience although really good for your age is degree level. In terms of professional equivalence a degree is level 6 - Operational departmental manager which is probably more senior and strategic than your experience that you describe is level 5. Training for example is level 4. If you really had experience at level 6+ the best way round it would be to do a masters as it is a much shorter course.

I'd take a smart school leaver with top grade maths and English over a Post 92 graduate any day.

YES I'm a young person hooray...!

I'd take a smart school leaver with top grade maths and English over a Post 92 graduate any day

I wondered how long it would take for the typical MN HE snobbery to emerge. It's so predictable 🙄

There is value in doing a degree and skills to be learned - research and writing skills, critical thinking, the application of knowledge, etc. - as well as what you will learn about the subject matter.

Do people really feel their degrees taught them that much? I consider my degree to have been largely a waste of time. It's been valuable to me only in so much that people have these silly rules about having one.

You need to leave & find a company who will value your experience & potential.

virtualhamster yes. The value in a degree is often the wider employability skills developed. To pass a degree you will have had to have developed and used these skills to some degree.
Recognising you developed these skills is another story though.