My first degree was in Philosophy. Not everyone goes straight from that kind of degree into well-paid, meaningful employment, because the purpose of higher education isn't just a job at the end.
So the UK government can even further into the sea with this pronouncement about English universities:
@dajbelshaw I was a classics and ancient history major and it was a classical education which has made me the manager I am today.
So I couldn't agree more about quality education NOT being about the job in quo.
A university is an institute for the furtherance of knowledge, not a technical training college. It saddens me so many universities are taking, or being forced down, the 'technical skills only please' route.
@rw I'm also optimistic about things like the proposed Co-operative University: https://www.co-op.ac.uk/Pages/Category/co-operative-university
@rw Well, to a great extent, they've made their own bed (becoming businesses first and places of learning second) and now they have to lie in it.
That's why I got involved in the Mozilla Open Badges work, because I think that peer-to-peer credentialing, and alternative forms of learning and accreditation are probably what we need at this point!