This is very important question and current issue

If we device system to asses their knowledge, skills and competence, then we surely can grant them; but if it is not easy for some reasons for academic institutions to grant them diplomas and degrees, these institutions can grant them some equivalent certificates for their capabilities and these certificates must make the individuals eligible for earning according to their skills, knowledge and competence; again awarding diplomas and degrees are very good step (if it is possible) for the capable individuals and thus we can increase our efficient workforce.

If I can learn how to fly a plane from internet - can I call myself a pilot? Would you fly with me?

Lou

I thank you for that Stergios.

Lou

Dear Mr. Lou Schmitt , Thanks for your feedback. My answer will to your question is "Yes provided you are competent enough like the Wright brothers (Orville and Wilbur Wright) who never attended Flying school and learned through experience as the first pilots in this world. However, if someone learns knowledge through the internet and lacks skills and competence, I will never fly with them as I will not risk my life. If you kindly go through my question, it focuses on three major components of learning including Knowledge, Skills, and Competence which can only be earned through real-life practical experience.

Dear Nazia Asad Thank you so much. I hundred percent agree with you. The credibility and validity of the assessment system are crucial in this case. A high-quality rubrics that validate the achievement of the candidates in key areas of the expertise he or she is going to claim will be helpful to know if the candidates' achievements are at par with the required level of knowledge, skills, and competence for that trade. We hear from our elders that a few decades ago there were informally trained dentists, herbal medicine practitioners, school teachers, and craftsmen in the villages and towns whose competencies and contributions were better as compared to today's PhDs.

Dear Mr. Muhammad, you forget one thing; people have an Ego, which suggests that they often claim more than what they actually can. When it comes to flying -

well, I need not say more.

Lou

Definitely not.. Truth is the degree is the proof of a person has 75% attendance in every semester. it is not for having knowledge.

You can learn anything from internet and faster then colleges.. I have seen many people having degree with 0 basic skills and future plan , they are just studying blindly whatever professors teach them..

Education is the ability to think , contribute to world , developing skills..

Lou Schmitt

100% true , i agree with your words... Most of people have ego because they do not have knowledge..

Thank you Ritik, we agree.

Cheers,

Lou

To give credit to an individual is to have a recognition of one's work done and perhaps giving honors. And if that holds, then it does not matter the degree an individual holds, his or her work done must be recognized and due respect accorded but not to give the person the credit in the form of diplomas or degrees as in academia certificates.

I think that knowledge is the core of any competency but nor sufficient. Technical skills must be used blended to knowledge: it could be techniques of reasoning or software techniques.

Thanks Dear Dr. Dahan Jean-Jacques . I agreed. A precise blend of knowledge, Skills, and Competencies is required for any level of formal or informal qualification.

Thanks Dear Mr. Ritik Bhardwaj . You are absolutely right. I also believe that the main objective of formal or informal education is to be equipped with the necessary knowledge, Practical skills, and expertise. It would be an injustice if we prefer a degree holder having minimum knowledge, Skills, and competency over one who does not have a degree but has enough grasp on the subject with the required knowledge, skills, and competency. There should be some mechanism to give credit to such people in form of a diploma or degree so that they may be able to compete in the job market and be able to work as a useful and privileged members of society.

Thank you very much, Dr. Millicent Narh-Kert for the agreement. You are right importance of a valid, flaw-less and internationally accepted assessment and evaluation mechanism are highlighted here. High-quality rubrics, a team of expert evaluators, and predefined standards may help us to give credit to those poor guys who can not attend schools and universities but otherwise, they are qualified and may be having better knowledge, skills, and competence than diploma holders.

Thank you Prof. Muhammad Shoaib Ahmedani, we are together

Welcome, Dear Dr. Millicent Narh-Kert. Stay blessed.

I agree to your stament. Many educators have diplomas but stopped learning at one point in their lives, while other people continue to acquire experience and knowledge due to their eagerness to learn something new. Thus they, this latter group should be awarded for their experience .

@Lou Schmitt, I agree with your submission, Formal education has its permanent presence in society and is essential to any organisation's network of performance support. Despite acting as an additional layer of support to enhance performance, informal learning should not totally replace formal learning.

Why we don't imagine a new method or advanced methods to test the people who have obtained knowledge and skills in a specialization in their own way and that they did not study in a systematic way, especially if this specialization does not deal with the human body, for example? surgery.

And finding a way to give these people such certificates or diplomas will inevitably increase the number of those who turn from a hobby and that they are competencies to holders of recognized certificates and diplomas.

Some countries have officially embedded this form of assessment, known as "recognition of prior learning" (RPL), into their admission policies. It does, however, require the compilation of a comprehensive portfolio of evidence, which will then be subjected to an intensive assessment process with the intention of awarding credit or qualification if found competent.

We acquire knowledge and skills to solve problems and to create progress. Today many politicians promote that at least 50% of society is participating in tertiary education that finishes off with some kind of research project. This research is financed by taxpayers' money. Here we have two problems - we taxpayers finance "prove of concept" and not "problem-solution". Since we don't solve problems we also don't create new businesses, industries and job opportunities. Thus educated people demand that governments create jobs and income. This is a path with a dead end as we learned from the greek and other economies

Many colleges are actively working on developing a process for Credit for Prior Learning (CPL). At community colleges around the country, there is broad recognition that many learners, especially older adult learners, come back, or to, college to reskill or upskill. These students have experience and skills gained in many areas. (Think Veterans). It is widely recognized that these skills should be considered assets that can accelerate the journey toward certificates and degrees.

There is no problem as long as it is in university centers

I am aware of some schools that award credits for life experiences that match equal time and rigor to equivalent regular courses. The learning experiences have to parallel those of a typical classroom experience. The student writes a paper on the experience, it is evaluated by the instructor and, if it meets requirements, credit can be awarded. These credits can satisfy some courses in the student's list of requirements for conferral. I am not aware of any education facility that allows graduation solely on the basis of lived experiences.

Dear Dr. Constance Fuller . Thanks for your insightful reply to the question asked. You have well said that "I am not aware of any education facility that allows graduation solely on the basis of lived experiences". This was the primary reason to ask this question. Although there are some diploma mills that award degrees based on life experience yet no accredited institution is awarding diplomas so far. We should think about this vital issue although it will deprive schools and colleges of heavy fees they charge as tuition fees. But if implemented successfully, it will give credit to the poor street children who are unable to attend schools but gain knowledge through experience.

Dear Dr. Willi Glettig . I agree with you that statesmen direct tertiary education in the interest of business entrepreneurs who are generally not interested in solving common problems faced by society. But those plumbers, electricians, and artisans who are actually serving society with the knowledge and skills they acquire through informal learning, may be given credit.

It is true that only academic education cannot @be the criterion of a person's competence in performing various activities, and having experience is also an important and necessary factor in this regard, but teaching at the university level definitely requires a specialized degree.

This question is thought provoking, and in my opinion, credits should be given in form of degrees or diploma's to those who gain required knowledge and competence informally, this is because this people undergoes thorough and extensive practicals than other people who aquire credits in form of degrees and diploma's formally.

For instance those who aquire credits formally might know something, but will not be able to practicalize it or bring it to a fruitful and meaningful project, while those who acquire credits informally tends to do well in practicalizing the things they've learnt.

I think, the best book, I'll recommend in this case, is " why A students work for C students and why B students works for the government" by Robert .c. Kiyosaki.

Someone here noted the fact that people who learn things from the internet, cannot be trusted by people, but this is not the case, as people who acquire credits informally, usually undergo intensive and extensive training and practicals , they only use the internet to learn more.

For instance Albert Estein who continuously carried out practicals, and achieved success, and even marrie Currier, so you can't over rule the fact that those people who acquire credits informally are trained extensively, it's just that in this twenty first century generation, people want things done in the twinkling of an eye, due to the Advent of technology, but this in turn brings disaster and endagers people's lives.

Muhammad, your question and answers explore transition to 21st-century learning as brick-and-mortar institutions explore ways to remain relevant as digital learning and on-the-job skills replace paper diplomas. To business and customer, which is more important a licensed dental hygienist with 30 years of experience or a 22-year-old with a paper hygienist certificate and no experience?

Although universities have existed for thousands of years, a universal youth brick-and-mortar school system is a 20th-century invention that is being replaced this century as the world transitions to ancient ways of independent learning supported and directed by family and community. Review my links below where I write: "Historic learning systems shifted into a twentieth-century government run school system defined as an administrative structure managing divisions of labor requiring transportation. It is less than a hundred years old. What makes anyone think it is a permanent institution?" See Presentation Why the School System won't last

It depends strongly on the degree and its purpose. If the degree is mostly application-based, like teaching, performing, research, or any instance where you are working as a means to gain knowledge from your environment, then phenomenologically, it makes sense to include outside experience towards a credited degree. The pandemic clarified this idea for me, when some workers got marked as "essential" employees in the United States, and still had to perform their duties. Those that could perform their duties at home did not need a particular environment to complete their job, so long as they had wi-fi. That being said, if they can do the work without leaving their bed, then surely you do not need a practicum-based degree. However, if you are analyzing, recording, or manipulating a person or their environment, those actions cannot typically be completed in the same manner if they are not experienced real time, by a physically present individual. I believe this is changing, and much of the field of tech is devoted to this, but there is no substitute for real-life experience, same as there is no substitute for true understanding of a truly complex concept.

Dear Muhammad Shoaib Ahmedani. Most entrepreneurs think in the long-term dimensions and know that we live in a very dynamic insecure environment. 60 to 85% of the population in any society are employees.

About half of those people get jobs from free enterprises such as you mentioned like plumbers, electricians etc. They get paid according to their performance. Thus, they will make sure that they continuously upgrade and adapt their knowledge and skills.

The other half are employed by public services. Public services are financed by the taxpayers. They have a job description and a contract that assures job security and guaranteed income. They have many rights but no performance responsibilities. This is a comfortable life that is expanding at the cost of the taxpayers.

Unlike the public sector, the free enterprise sector also must create progress, but they must finance new technologies and expansion out of their profits. As tax demand in the Public Sector is expanding, less money is around in the free enterprise sector for financing their own progress. Many countries then go through very difficult times. (e.g., Greece)

To stabilize the country, it should outsource education into the free enterprise sector and have a very small very high-quality tertiary sector for the very bests problem solvers from around the globe. They would then create solutions for very complex problems and sell them to buyers around the globe.

Dear Dr. Willi Glettig . Thanks for explaining and supporting my question. You have well said that " They have many rights but no performance responsibilities". I 100 percent agree with your stance. I wish policymakers take into your consideration and give due credit to those who are kept out of the job competition for want of a piece of paper i.e. diploma despite being more capable than the diploma holders.

As a result of the certificates obtained with a 1-day training, it is not an ethical situation if the places of the people who gave their lives to that field and barely got a certificate will be usurped.

Thank you for that.

Lou

You are welcome Dear Lou Schmitt for yur support.

Thanks Dr. Şeyda Bostancı for your comment. Will you please further elaborate your comment?

American universities have, in the past, allowed adult students to test out of certain classes through portfolio support of their expertise or non-academic certifications of expertise. Many job categories also have assessments of skills prior to hiring someone to do that work. Even pilots (as noted previously) have to pass tests, both written and in flight, prior to being certified as a pilot. Certification may also include a number of hours actually flying a plane. I doubt that anyone would fly with a pilot they knew not to be certified as a pilot, nor would they allow a plumber who did not have a plumber's license work on plumbing in their home or office. In today's society, many young people do not think college is worth the money it takes to have a degree that basically doesn't enable them to do much of anything. Here is what I suggest: Make certifications/licenses available for what used to be "blue collar" work to prove proficiency. Then, if the learner wants to get a higher level degree perhaps to pursue a management position, give that student a designated number of credit hours for their professional certifications once it is determined they are legitimate. It's a win-win. There is value in learning the trades that not only allows those graduates to earn a good living, but also to give them credit if they want to become a manager later. The trades win, colleges and universities win, and most of all, the students, their customers, and their employers win!