Digital Economy
In this Telegraph article, Dr Colin Byrne argues for a multi-tiered educational system. Under the harmless title “employers should help shoulder student tuition fees”, the author envisions a higher education adjusted to market demands: “I propose that universities should introduce new programmes that differ in their aims, content, breadth, depth and – critically – duration. Universities should continue to teach many existing courses, but should package these into different programmes, with some lasting for only one or two years. […] These shorter courses would be more affordable than a full degree programme and more relevant to the employer’s business”.
For a moment I thought that the purpose of higher education was to create and share knowledge and grow students to critical citizens, and that shorter courses already exist. But then I gave into the temptation of articulating the article’s vision.