Changes in university education

There is more to studying in universities than just digesting knowledge.

September 01, 2014 01:14 pm | Updated 01:14 pm IST

Every year in August there is great excitement, and great anxiety, as people look for information about their applications to study at universities. As students complete their A-level examinations, and wait to learn their results, the tension that they feel grows. It is reflected in local newspapers, reporting the experience of students in their areas. One topic of discussion this year has been a change in the regulations under which universities operate. They are now allowed to increase the number of students admitted, rather than being strictly controlled by government regulation. As a general rule, my interest in all this is quite distant and detached. Long past are the days when I was anxiously waiting my results. Long past, indeed, are my university student days — nearly 60 years, to be precise.

This year, however, has been different. My wife and I have found ourselves waiting for the date on which results were announced. The reason, of course, is that our eldest granddaughter was one of the students for whom the results would be of great importance. Well, the date has come, and our granddaughter obtained the A-level results which she wanted, and the university place of her choice. She was obviously delighted, and so were we — although obviously her delight was due to an achievement, ours merely to an observation from the sidelines.

Finding myself for once paying attention to university entrance information, I began to reflect on the huge changes that there have been since “my” day. The most obvious has been the great increase in the number of universities — institutions authorised to award degrees. A concomitant of that, equally obviously, has been the great increase in the proportion of the population attending universities.

Curiously enough, the precise figure is difficult to obtain. In the 1950s, it was only about seven per cent of the 18-year-old population. The figure now is far from clear, but it is around 30 per cent. One result, obviously, is that the range and variety of jobs taken by graduates has changed enormously. That change, however, does not derive only from total numbers. It reflects also the fact that over half a century the nature of jobs has changed. When I graduated and became a journalist, to take a specific example, emails and mobile phones were not used. The process of sending news was very different from what it is now.

That is just one example, and there are many others. Recalling the changes, and reflecting on them, leads me think about one aspect of the nature of university education. It is the fact that university study is not simply about digesting knowledge, though clearly it is about that. Even more important is that it encourages students to think carefully and deeply about the nature of knowledge, and to apply what they know and what they have learnt to new issues and new problems. In my view, that is more important than simply acquiring knowledge of the subject of study — important though that obviously is. As I thought about all this, I recalled an approach made to me, when I was head of the Cambridge University Careers Service, by a distinguished professor of physics. He asked me to meet one of his most able recent graduates, who had embarked on research for a doctorate, but had decided that he was no longer interested in pursuing it. The professor asked me, not to try to persuade the student to change his mind, but to help him to find another route to using his ability, and satisfying his interests. I happily agreed — and was greatly encouraged by the fact that the professor recognised the importance of using ability in a way that would bring satisfaction.

To put it another way, it is important to choose as one’s subject of university study one that sparks one’s interest but equally important to appreciate that the study opens, rather than closes, doors. To take an unusual but not unique example, it is not possible to practise medicine without a medical qualification, but someone who acquires a medical degree and then decides that the practice of medicine is not what he or she wants, is by no means prevented from doing something else. I do not for one moment expect my granddaughter to be interested in my views about how to exercise choice. I do, however, owe her a debt of gratitude for, unwittingly, encouraging me to develop my thoughts on the purpose of university education.

Bill Kirkman is an Emeritus Fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge, the U.K. E-mail: bill.kirkman@gmail.com

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