In the last few decades, members of society started to question the purpose of universities. Throughout the centuries, the purpose of universities has shifted in their focus; initially, universities were created to serve the clergy and the prestige. Over the more ‘modern’ centuries, universities have focused on different aspects of their practices, from practical education in the learning of different areas to focusing on creating an experience for people, by paying attention to the design of campuses and what they could offer. Formerly having this experience was optional, now it has become a ‘requirement’. The past and present focus of universities overlap. Some people attend college because of status. They seek prestigious universities to live an experience of educational wealth or respect. Regardless of the reason people attend universities, the question remains: what is the purpose of universities?
In the discussion of the purpose of universities, there are two aspects I think are worth pondering on: educational signaling and learning. Simply put, ‘educational signaling’ can be defined as the idea that subjects communicate information about themselves – in terms of intelligence – to another party by presenting some sort of credentials; in this case, a university diploma. In other words, socially, a university diploma signals academic intelligence. Within the purpose of universities, signaling plays an important role. Currently, for many people, getting a college degree is a requirement. The only path to land a good job. The idea of academic credentials in the marketplace is something worth discussing because of its social value. In order for you to apply for a job, you have to present your university credentials. Otherwise, you have no or little chances to be taken seriously.
Credentials, which are part of educational signaling, can be argued to represent intellectual signaling. Socially, education signifies intelligence for those who possess a college education. In the marketplace, employers seek capable workers who can perform demanding tasks within a specific job. However, academic credentials do not always equal good job performance. Good workers might not have strong educational credentials, and people with “great credentials” might not perform properly in a task given. Either way, attending university is still a good indicator of success in a job. Nevertheless, university education has another pitfall, competition.
With so many educational institutions available for the masses (synchronous and asynchronous), virtually anyone can have a college degree. In this massification of education, more people are competing for jobs to succeed professionally. In order to be competitive, you have to prove that you have the ‘best’ credentials. Therefore, people strive to enter to high-prestige universities. Everything seems to point in the direction that, some credentials are more valued than others. A person applying for a job who has a degree from a prestigious university in North America has more opportunities to convey, to future employers, greater intelligence than someone who got a diploma from a developing country, for instance. After all, universities have a national and global reputation, and that reputation matters in public opinion.
So, basically, almost everyone thinks education is special. Special in the sense of signaling intelligence. Education signals socially desirable and expecting strengths from individuals. If you want the labor market to recognize your intellectual strengths, you have to have a good education. Whether education actually signifies any knowledge, undoubtedly it bestows legitimacy and prestige on people through academic credentials (Sykes, 2016). The job market rewards intelligence. Society rewards credentials but, do credentials equate to intelligence or learning? Some scholars argue that education should signal more than intelligence, it should signal (among other things) skills (Caplan, 2018).
Skills depend on a variety of factors, including natural abilities, intelligence, practice, and environment. So, are universities, besides providing credentials, fostering actual intelligence or skills? Universities’ discourse is to help students to think critically, to teach students how to think, but they rarely talk about how much students actually learn during their academic years. Colleges and universities rarely, if ever, gather and publish information about how much undergraduates learn during their academic careers (Carey, 2015), Students spend years studying content that they rarely use on the job. Adults rarely remember the content of subjects they studied since their primary education.
According to the book Academically Adrift, by Arum and Roksa (2011), college students don’t demonstrate any substantial improvement in learning in their first years of college. Moreover, according to the authors, more than a third of students do not show any significant improvement in learning over their four years of academic study. Some people might disagree with the aforementioned statements, after all, standardized tests exist to prove students’ cognitive capabilities. However, the counterargument is that virtually anyone can pass a test by practicing. There are coaches that prepare students for high-stakes tests, to apply for college, for example. Therefore, test preparation or passing a test, arguably, does not raise genuine intelligence.
Seemingly, colleges face a crisis of intellectual value. People are losing faith in education. People have become dissolution by what colleges or universities have to offer. Currently, there are a number of colleges that are catering to what people ‘want’, not what people ‘need’. People want low-cost universities or free ones, flexible lecture times, fewer standardized tests, better infrastructure, more leisure time, and the list goes on. It appears that many universities have abandoned the idea of teaching undergraduate students. A survey carried out by National Geographic in 2002[1] revealed geographic illiteracy by 18- to 24-year-olds in Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States. Young people were unable to locate places like Japan or the United Kingdom. In an investigation of evolution knowledge and acceptance, the authors found that European first-year university students generally accept evolution, simultaneously lacking substantial knowledge about it, even if they are enrolled in programs related to biology (Kuschmierz, et al., 2021).
Universities seem to be at a crossroads. From the perspective of education signaling, credentials can be gotten not only from educational institutions in order for you to get a job. There are many options available for you to get any credentials (e.g., certification courses) that do not require a university diploma or four years of schooling. Today, many people are reluctant to spend too much time or too much money on a college education if they can get it for free. As for the promise of universities to promote intellectual development to become lifelong learners, that promise appears to have fallen short. People don’t become skilled workers by experimenting with different academic subjects. They become skilled by spending years in their chosen vocation; basically, by practicing and striving to do better.
So, what is the purpose of universities, you might ask? Well, the answer is not just black and white. The purpose of universities will depend on the lens through which you see it. Some people see universities are the only path to employment. For others, it is about status and having an experience. For governments, universities play a vital role in economic development by providing a highly educated workplace, conducting research that leads to new products and industries, and attracting investment and talent to the region. Whatever the reason, universities today are facing a crisis, a crisis that ranges from obsolescence to value.
[1] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/geography-survey-illiteracy
References
- Arum, R., & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. University of Chicago Press.
- Caplan, B. (2018). The case against education: Why the education system is a waste of time and money. Princeton University Press.
- Carey, K. (2015, February 06). How to Raise a University’s Profile: Pricing and Rising. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/education/edlife/how-to-raise-a-universitys-profile-pricing-and-packaging.html
- Kuschmierz, P., Beniermann, A., Bergmann, A., Pinxten, R., Aivelo, T., Berniak-Woźny, J., … & Graf, D. (2021). European first-year university students accept evolution but lack substantial knowledge about it: a standardized European cross-country assessment. Evolution: Education and Outreach, 14, 1-22.
- Sykes, C. J. (2016). Fail U.: The false promise of higher education. Macmillan.
