Hello fellow students.
As a tutor for university students I usually get hired not by unintelligent students or even lazy students but students that want to get ahead and truly compete in the increasingly competitive global economy.
I’d like to give you a few awe inspiring student statistics:
“Statistics indicate that the number of university students in China has increased rapidly in recent years, from 1.08 million in 1998 to over 17 million in 2003.” Asia Times
“The India Science Report, for instance, shows that India had a total of 48.7 million graduates in 2004, up sharply from 20.5 million in 1991. And while just around 29 per cent of those enrolled for graduate courses went in for science in 1995-96, this is now up to 35 per cent.” Rediff News
15.6 million students are enrolled in post secondary education within the United States in 2009 an increase of over 2 million from 2000 which saw 13.2 million students registered. National Center for Education Statistics (Figure 10.2) with 2.2 million graduate students (Figure 11.1)
Here is the reality, right now for every western student who has a post secondary degree there are 10 more in non-western countries, who are just as smart or smarter, work for less money and have gone through 10 times more hell to get to where they are now. They are GOOD students; they are going to be even better employees. As a western student who is either beginning or finishing off their university career, it can be scary to think about this. I mean once employers figure out they can hire 10 Indian MBA’s for the price of one western one, it’s going to be a new ballgame.
So how can students stay competitive?
There are still many advantages to a western degree, as an example, usually if you belong to an international caliber school (a top 10 school like Harvard, yale, oxford etc) you’re probably going to be ok, you might not automatically be pulling in six figures out of your undergrad but you’ll be ok. Getting one of those fancy degrees myself, it definitely opens up doors.
Now for the rest of you that go to a good middle tier school, you are simply going to have to adapt to the new reality. The new reality being, university does not automatically mean you are going to get a good job or any job at all. You are going to have to learn how to be competitive in this economy. Here are my personal top choices:
Do NOT specialize in University
Almost all students look to specialize in university, hell I did it! But I quickly discovered that going to graduate school and specializing in transnational immigrant digital diasporas wasn’t automatically going to get me a job as the 5 jobs in the world that demanded my degree were already taken. Be adaptable! Choose huge topics and learn a little about all aspects of it. The more specific you get the less jobs you will be open to. Oh and by the way, the more education you have the smaller your chance of getting hired into entry level positions as most employers won’t take the chance on training a highly educated employee just to see them leave three months later for a better gig.
Don’t count on your education as your first tool in the globalized economy
Education shouldn’t be your first tool in staying competitive in the globalized economy. Many of your international competitors have had to invest 16 hour days since they were twelve to get into university. You on the other hand have had the advantage of not being an education thrall and have been able to hopefully fill your life with varying experiences. Take advantage of this and make sure you have a multivariate set of skills. Contemporary employers are looking for students that can do anything and everything. They are not looking for specialists or people who just have a lot of degrees; they can find those in India at 10 cents on the dollar. I had a student who just recently got a great position because he added that he was an SEO (search engine optimization) expert along with his degree in psychology. This extra skill got him his social worker job and unofficial website tech guy for the office.
Try to learn something that can’t be outsourced
Do not turn your nose up at being a plumber or carpenter, some make six figure salaries and are more creative in their jobs than any cubical gnome. If you want something a little more respectable, try a doctor, social worker, or educator (although I make a good living at outsourcing that). Here is a good rule of thumb to pass the outsource test that I came up with after I read The World Is Flat by Friedman, ask yourself, can my work be digitized? If it can’t you’re safe, if it can, prepare to compete against your new Indian and Chinese co-workers.
What will the future hold for western students in the globalized world?
The reality is that education is still one of the most important things I think anyone can do to improve their life. However, education doesn’t have to start and end in a classroom. Or be the be all and end all of getting a new job. I know many students who after getting their masters in philosophy for instance, went on to be great company managers, or entrepreneurs or plumbers! Be adaptable, be broad in your educational outlook and above all be wary of your growing international competition.
