From the Readers

The value of scarcity

(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-03-31 07:53

Giving all students more ready access to a university course is a good idea. Irrespective of students' circumstances, all of them with university-level brainpower should have equal access to higher education.

But in many parts of the world, getting into a university has become easier because entry requirements have "tumbled down".

In the last couple of decades, the proportion of new graduates in many countries has shot up dramatically, and recent cases in China have made people ask whether it is a good thing when not many suitable post-college jobs are available.

Are there really enough genuine graduate-level jobs available to cope with the flood of new graduates each summer? Besides, university education is also known to encourage graduates to see more mundane employment opportunities as below their dignity, even though they may find it very difficult to get a good job.

But have university degrees really lost their value? If everybody has one, the scarcity value is lost. Hence, universities should better focus on achieving higher standards, rather than on lowering standards to mass-produce graduates.

Paul Surtees, via e-mail

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