A 2012 study from Rutgers University reported that slightly more than half of recent college graduates had full-time jobs and only four in 10 said their current job required a four-year degree. That same survey found that the majority of graduates were happy with their college education but if they had it to do over, they would have picked a different major or tried career internships.
“Technology is changing so much faster than we can teach or people can change their skills,” said Daniel Gitterman, professor of public policy at UNC-CH. “We’ve just got a tremendous amount of uncertainty.”
That uncertainty is OK, said Randy Woodson, chancellor of N.C. State University.
“It’s difficult to say we need this many engineers, this many nurses,” he said, “you know, to pigeonhole higher education based on precise workforce needs at the time. The value of public higher education is that we’re constantly reacting to changing needs in society, always attuned to the underpinning need for an educated citizenry.”
Woodson uses the example of Germany to paint a contrast to American higher education. There, students are put into a career pipeline early based on test scores. They are trained very well in apprenticeships, but students have very little flexibility.
“In this country, because of the way the system works, you’re able to continually reinvent yourself,” he said. “And that is frustrating for us when we have kids change majors three times, but I think, I fundamentally believe, it’s one of the reasons why our country is one of the most innovative in the world....The education system allows for innovation.”