Let’s kick this one off with an anecdote, shall we. A group of comrades were hanging out in their hostel one evening when of them suggested they take the fun times a notch higher and hit the club. Seeing as it was rather late into the night, one student dismissed the idea observing that it was too late and besides, he argued, they had had enough partying for one night. Seeing that he wasn’t going to have his way this time, the proposer threw a tantrum making it clear to the rest of the group that as a Medicine student, he had veto over any decisions that needed to be made and the rest would be well advised to heed his will. Everything went downhill thereafter.
While the implication that some students/graduates are more important than others seems rather insensitive, a recent report by the Center on Education and the Workforce in the US published by Forbes Magazine suggests that indeed, some courses -and by extension graduates- are more valuable and important than others.
According to the study, one’s choice of course substantially affects their employment prospects and earnings. As the worst affected courses, Anthropology and Archeology students in the US face a 10.5% unemployment rate with an average annual salary of only $28,000 compared to $58,000 for Mechanical Engineers. As a matter of fact, the least in-demand and lowest earning courses in the US fall under arts and humanities and include film, fine arts, and philosophy & religious studies.
The study further points out that “most young people in college [and university] take whatever interests them, without thinking what it can really do for them.”
In Kenya, when it comes to choosing degree courses, many people go for the most popular courses simply because it is widely believed that chances of getting employed after pursuing a popular course are high. Commerce, Law and Bachelor of Arts courses have proven to be widely popular with high school levers signing up for the degrees in droves.
The dynamics of the Kenyan job market paint a totally different picture from the prevailing scenario in the US but the truth is, most university entrants mostly only consider accessibility of the courses as opposed to the demand for such skills in the job market. Some degree of blame must also fall on the Joint Admission’s Board which has often been accused of admitting students for degree courses they hadn’t even applied for on account of limited availability of certain courses.
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