Both are important but skill has a important role to survive.

Thanks, Dr. Nirmala. I agree with you that both are important. My problem is that I believe that a certificate, degree or diploma not only depicts the level of education but also the corresponding level of skill. If the skill and degree represent and validate each other, then this will be an ideal situation; a true reflection that the learning outcome of the program has been achieved. Otherwise, a degree is not more than a piece of paper and does not deserve any respect.

 Thanks, Dr. Karthik,  Here I have a slightly different opinion. I believe any degree program must be developed based on the skills needed in the market. After a thorough analysis of the market reqy=uirements, Program ILOs must be developed and translated into Course ILOs and lecture ILOs. All needed skills must be embedded in the lectures and the courses. Direct and indirect methods may be used to ensure achievement of the course and program ILOs. This process will ensure that the degree holder possesses the required skills. Otherwise, the degree will be simply an attendance certificate.

Dear Prof Mohammad

Interesting question. I believe that key requirements to get a job should include degree, job-specific skill, interpersonal skills and right attitude in the current job market. The university degree courses should include subjects to reflect the current market demand and industry requirements. Nowadays, university degree does not guarantee a job if it does not include on-the-job training. This is because the market is very competitive. The graduates should focus on personal development which includes skill development as well. Communication skills, ability to deal with people with various backgrounds, team participation, report writing etc are key skills for any job. The universities can occasionally bring some of the industry experts to provide lectures as well.

Best regards

Ravi

Thanks, Dr. Ravi,

Thank you very much for your valuable feedback. Unfortunately, I can not disagree with you. So our discussion will remain limited and I will deprive myself of your valuable thoughts.  You have suggested that "The universities can occasionally bring some of the industry experts to provide lectures as well". This is a good suggestion indeed but is not a permanent solution. I believe that program administration must develop program learning outcomes as well as course learning outcomes after deep consideration of job market requirements and ensure achievement and validation of those ILOs. It would be worthy if accreditation bodies in the respective countries supervise and ensure development and validation of the ILOs that fulfil national and job market need through a comprehensive accreditation process that definitely welcomes students tours to the industry and vice versa.

Best Regards

Does the Today`s world need degree or skill?

Think it depends on the requirement of a particular job market.  Certain markets / jobs required either one e.g. management trainee or clerk whereas some markets / jobs required both degree & skill e.g. specialist doctor.  Obtaining a degree indicating a person already acquired certain minimal knowledge.  A person will be in a more competitive position if s/he has both the right degree & skill.  If s/he only have ether one, s/he should pursue / acquire the other one when opportunity arises.  

Degree is the platform upon which you build skills.

Thanks, Prof. Han and Prof. Markvic for your precious comments. Agreed that the world can be changed with the ingenious peoples. With due respect, I wish to submit a slightly different opinion as Dr. Han has stated in his comment. I think all jobs whether a clerk's position or a doctoral position requires a certain set of skills and competencies. If these competencies and skills are not embedded in the curriculum, then graduates will feel difficulty in finding jobs merely with an academic degree.

For many young men and women the only way to prove that they have something to offer is a degree and sometimes without skills.  In this case the degree is an indicator of their worthiness.  However in most cases during the process of getting a degree students are exposed to events that would gain them experience as well, such as an internship, a part time job..etc.  Relatively fewer people would have the skill and able to move up the ladder without a degree.  So I guess my answer is Degree.

Dear Dr. Sami, I am grateful for your realistic comments. It is totally true in the developing countries, where degrees generally base on the curriculum aiming to meet criteria just for a degree instead of meeting the competencies and skills for which the students are intended to achieve that degree. This is the reason we see that there is a direct relationship between the innovation/scientific discoveries and the market-oriented curriculum/degree. The program and universities where there is a gap between the curriculum and skills have a lower ranking in the world.

Hopefully, a degree offers an amount of proof of skill, or at least, potential for developing a skill.

For some skills, a degree may not be necessary. Some skills can be acquired though practice only.

I think both types of skills are going to be in demand, however for an economy to grow, innovation is required. And it seems inescapable that for significant innovation to occur, one needs a deeper understanding, of whatever subject matter, than what "on the job training" may be able to provide.

Education means going beyond the limits of what an individual may experience, in his or her own day to day existence.

Both are equally essential. Degree for screening i.e. to do odd man out and Skill for performance/work implementation..

Thanks, Mr. Albert and Ardhendu., I also agree that both are important if compliment and validate each other. 

Dear Prof. Muhammad Shoaib Ahmedani,

For what it is worth.

A degree may open the door but then again so may a particular skill set. A degree may or may not be associated with an amount of knowledge or skills.

Neither hold actual value unless put into execution. Skill and knowledge that is exercised hopefully grows as one learns from mistake and success.

Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value. Louis L'Amour

Prof. Clayton Christenssen claims higher education is ready for disruption as none of the recent large fortune makers finished their univeristy degrees and as long employment becomes less the norm and steady emplyment not even may merit pay off on university fees. Further, he states - why settle for a particular set of courses from a single university when you can cherry pick between universities? Also, why study the whole package when you can grab a job and add education in demand as it is required and when it can be turned into some kind of personal advantage? It is a form of efficiency and targeting improvement of the education process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUGn5ZdrDoU

http://www.claytonchristensen.com/books/innovative-university/

Ramez Naam has written a good book on the upcoming challenges we face for planet Earth. It all boils down to ideas, i.e. knowledge and skills put into action, being an infinite resource and the thing which really improves matters. Simply stated, the more ideas and innovation, the better and the likelier our future.

http://rameznaam.com/the-infinite-resource/

The current trend seems to point at abundance or super abundance for access to tools, spreading of ideas. Salim Ismail has written a book on exponential organizations and how these are configured. I see no reason why education cannot become similar, e.g. AirBnB does not own a single hotel, Uber does not own its cars. Why should a univeristy specializing only in education (not research) have to be tied to bricks and mortar (see Christenssen)?

http://exponentialorgs.com/

So, yes, I believe that degrees of some kind, not necessarily the old kind as these may be specific enabling courses and, knowledge/skills put into execution is what is required and thus, that a combination of the two put into execution is likely to fetch a salary or allow one to drive one's own business venture.

In a sense, one may oversimplify the change as that of going from buing education as a satellite channel package to buing access to Netflix, HBO, YouTube or similar.

Taking a rearview mirror look is enlightening as a driving force for education was that of social standing. This may to some degree still be the case but it seems that the driving mechanisms are being dissolved by the ease and anonymity with which ideas now can be spread and exchanged. The Chinese system linked education to social standing

https://www.slideshare.net/khaikheeskhee/chinese-education-50795423

Then again, the value of practised knowledge and skills is not new.

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else. Leonardo da Vinci

The way we can leverage good knowledge and skills is new though. First it was by example, then oral, next we got writing, then books, thereafter mass manufactured books, now the internet and e-books or videos that are slightly interactive.

Around the corner lies AI. It seems to me that AI is the next step in knowledge storage and it will be interactive and incorporate a collective learning mechanism with tremendous leveraging both in input and in output. Just as education has had to cope with going from oral to writing, books and mass produced books, surely it will become influenced and improved as AI steps onto the scene.

This development is speculated upon by Neal Stephenson in his book The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer where a type of AI acts as tutor for some young ladies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Diamond_Age

Blooms 2 sigma problem suggest this to be a great improvement for education.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_2_Sigma_Problem

It resembles the education system used by the upper classes of the old. Anyone who has read a paper written by such people is in awe.

Some distance down the road, it may well be us old types that are the poorly edcuated ones and there will be a lot of well educated young ones dominating the scene.

Just my 2 cents

Claes

Hi

If one knows one will go out and tighten a size 10 nut and a torx12 bolt, one brings two tools. If one goes out in search of problems, one brings a toolchest.

The obvious counterargument to, at least highly, targeted  education is that one must know in advance very well its use and future application while a young person who wants to disciver and develop an interest must consume a wider range of topics.

Of course, we will se both types where the targeted education likely will be older workforce tuning and trimming our capabilities.

/C

Dear Prof. Claes Richard Fredö,

Thanks a lot for your detailed reply. I agree with your point of view that "A degree may open the door". Yes, my stance is also the same that a degree is just a ticket to enter a competition, but it may not guarantee that one will win. Winning is purely based on skills.  I also agree with your stance that the knowledge increases as the money increases if properly invested in a business cycle. But I believe that knowledge is superior to money as it surely increases with spending/sharing unlike money that is reduced in volume with spending. 

I will read the valuable reference, you have quoted and will give you my feedback. Yes, if one knows about the tools, sizes of nuts then he can tighten those. But if one does not know but has a piece of paper as a proof of his knowledge, then such piece of paper is merely a rubbish.

Best Regards

Ahmedani

Dear Prof. Ahmedani,

I am a mere PhD out in the wild. I have been applying what I know and completing lack thereof as best as practical since I left university. I rarely do the same thing twice. The basic tools and knowledge set stays the same but the application and scale always varies. It is great fun. 

A local business man stated that politics trump finance, technology trumps politics. He then bypassed state media control using satellite television.

I guess a similar setting can found for skills, degrees and knowledge with the difference that the order between the three rotates depending on the setting.

All in all, I believe education may be in line for modernization which is not a bad thing.

I found the above to be quite enjoyable reading. All that Prof. Christenssen writes is thought provoking. The book on exponential organizations mention having participated on open source project and receiving favorable peer eviews of one's work on GitHub being the CV for any programmer worth his salt in Silcon Valley, i.e. that Github has turned into a reputation system. Reputation is one factor we have yet to discuss that can be as powerful as formal degrees.

A piece of paper as a door opener backed by family power is not to be underestimated. A piece of paper may well open the door to alternative careers, e.g. administrative or political paths. Also, getting a degree not only open doors - it does close some other doors so it is not always strictly a positive.

The question is multifaceted and likely, varies from one person to the next as well as over time.

All the best

Claes

Interesting.

Good Answer Claes Richard Fredö