You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Instead of teaching a broad range of subjects, a university should focus on those necessary for a given profession. Which do you prefer?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer: (A university should NOT only teach subjects necessary for a given profession.)
Many people believe that tertiary education should be focused on the future professions of students. Others, however, oppose this idea and opine that a university is a place to shape the overall ability of learners to create an enlightened nation. I agree with the latter view and believe that the way universities teach around the world is a far better setup than focusing only on job-centric education.
First of all, in the modern world, the job sectors are dynamic and employees take on new challenges and work in diverse areas at their workplaces. Knowledge learned from the university subjects, only focused on careers, fails to enhance the overall skill of students. So, it can be catastrophic for a nation to have a workforce who have been taught job-related courses but were not introduced to the vast array of other aspects of education. Most of the companies, these days, search for people who are more dynamic and have diverse skills than candidates with good grades. For instance, most software development companies give priority to a candidate’s performance, skill set and analytical ability than his academic results.
Secondly, the competitive job sector all over the world forces many graduates to seek jobs in an entirely different sector than their majors in universities. Thus someone who graduated from IT is becoming a banker and someone from a finance background is working as an HR. Many also set up their own business instead of doing a job. It has all been possible due to a wide range of subjects that the universities have taught to those students.
Furthermore, employees often need to enrol in different training and professional courses. Those who have finished a university degree with a wide range of subjects would do better in those training programmes and courses. For instance, IT professionals often take the MBA course and this is another good example of why university students should study an extensive range of subjects rather than studying some particular subjects for the jobs.
I, therefore, conclude that a wide range of subjects at the university level is more useful for a student’s career and overall growth. Hence, job-centric university education sounds like a good idea in theory, but in practice, this is a faulty one.