Ayşe Açıkgöz - 8

Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace. Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the course is useful to an employer.

What, in your opinion, should be the main function of a university?

Nowadays, the issue of a decent university education is a fairly controversial topic. While some some people hold the opinion that proper education covers just providing knowledge and skills to graduates, others back up their views as the fact that universities should have their own curriculum and and in terms of education, scientific side should outweigh. I will pen down my idea about this issue and my comments will support the argument that universities should ensure education about practical work life.

As a prelude, we live in a competitive world and in this life many employers have an expectation from us regarding gaining lots of experiences in our occupation. Any employer does not prefer to abnegate work hours for training a fresher. At the professional work life, this situation may create a perception like any workplace could not reach its profit target because of the callow workers. In the business life, currently, while employers assume that new graduates had better gain these qualifications, in the university education, this reality should not be ignored. When a youngger applies for a position, they always encounter this inevitable question: “Have you ever got any experience in this field?” But this affair starts to be a kind of vicious circle. Since, if a graduate could not gain any position anywhere, it is impossible for them to answer this question in a positive way. Unless these people have taken the necessary education aimed at professional work life at the university, they presumably would not reach their target careers because of this situated practice.

Despite these arguments, a group of opponents claim that the real function of university should present education in a scientific line, regardless of the employers' expectations. In my opinion, this thesis could not find a place itself in the real world. In terms of graduates, the most important ability is that they could use their theoretical knowledge in the practical business life. If the universities do not think about this reality and they do not ensure their students necessary syllabus, they can not be evaulated as adequate and well-equipped educational establishments. Eventually, all of the students attend these instutions and spare their most important periods of lives in struggle for acquiring enough hardware in order to gain satisfactory jobs. Unless they use these theoretical knowledge learned at school, the acquired knowledge will not service any task.

To sum up, in terms of the benefits of education, it is not hard to come to the conclusion that in the university curriculum, knowledge which can find a place for itself in the marketplace should be prioritized. Otherwise, time and effort spent on any kind of education could become in vain.