Food for thought!

[oneteen]

At the recent GSA Heads’ Conference, we were asked to consider whether the best students need to specialise at Russell Group universities. A provocative statement indeed, especially for schools, such as XXXX, where large number of our students attend Russell Group universities. But the evidence is growing, an increasing number of employers are becoming degree blind. Deloitte, and Ernst and Young are developing their own tests to find the students they need. Penguin, Unilever, Google and IBM are all beginning to look beyond the degree and setting up a selection process that gives scant regard to the quality of university qualification.

Why? Because they are finding that degrees are specialised in silos of knowledge. Students are not able to connect knowledge. Societal problems are not subject specific they cut across silos. If graduates cannot problem solve, think laterally, collaborate and work in different dimensions they are not useful to their employers.

I completely agree - I have been at University courses run for UCAS supervisors where we have been told that personal statements are rarely read and that degree courses with more a more specialised skills focus or links to industry are highly valued in the workplace and are therefore becoming much more popular. More and more employers want their graduates to have some degree of expertise in the field they are going into rather than being pure academics. When students are paying £9250 a year on a degree course then it makes sense for them to make those connections through uni. This also ties in with so many of my students wanting to do much more vocational degrees and degree apprenticeships.
RG status is not as regarded in modern business as it was and we should be more open minded when advising our children.

we were asked to consider whether the best students need to specialise at Russell Group universities.

What do you mean by 'not specialise'? And what types of employment are not 'degree blind'?

If you want a career as a scientist or engineer you certainly need a degree which provides in-depth domain knowledge. The very best may specialise somewhat less (Natural Sciences, General Engineering rather than a specific discipline).

Reading lucycats post again, I don't think it's a 'Russell Group' or not question - it's a 'degree which teaches you something useful' issue.

Sorry I should have said this was a post on my DD's HT's blog which I thought was food for thought.

The point she was trying to make is that maybe having a Spanish, History or other traditional subject degree will not always help you employment wise even if you gained it at a RG University....you need a wider set of skills to go with your specialism and large companies are now looking to apply their own tests (which look at wider skills), so in some respects it doesnt matter where you studied because the field becomes a level playing field based on employers own tests. A bit like applying for medicine where a lot of Med Schools dont read the personal statements etc and just sort by the UKCAT and BMAT tests.

The post went on to say ....

A new market in universities will appear, two year degrees, bilateral degrees, nano degrees, alternatives to universities, diversification within universities and increasingly students applying to individual institutions rather than through UCAS. Unconditional offers are just a taste of things to come.

I'll probably be flamed for this since many MNers are pro-Russell Group, but I think it's rather a con. Yes, there are some prestigious institutions in the clique but they are self-selecting.

My local University, Exeter, is RG. I have no idea why. I have insider knowledge of one discipline and the teaching there is farcical. They shut down their music and chemistry departments 15 years ago, yet because they pay their dosh to the gang, they are in. Other places such as Bath are not. Yet Bath has a phenomenal reputation for certain subjects, much better than Exeter's.

I tell my daughters and my students to look carefully at ALL aspects of any institution, not just the RG label.

@Malbecfan - My DD's school actually encourages the girls to look at ALL institutions too ... and several of the teachers have their DC at smaller non RG Universities. I really rate the school in terms of its honesty and level headiness even though its a fee paying school where a number of parents would clearly expect their children to go to RG/Oxbridge.