Why we need to learn by example

[QQ]Remember when a university degree guaranteed you a job? When grizzled. workers who had spent years clawing their way up the career ladder had to tug their forelock as a fresh-faced kid sailed past them on the way to greater things?[QQ] Well, according to a recent survey by one Internet information organisation, 70% of employers believe that a computer science degree is worthless.[QQ] One university lecturer who responded to the survey said only students who had previous work experience amounted to anything. 'Many students take a sandwich course with a year out in a work experience placement - this is worth more than the degree itself,' he said.[QQ] In the same survey, more than 68% of employers endorsed vendor certification.[QQ] One employer said certification provided a 'clear skill level to be obtained by the employee and a pre-checked status for the employer'.[QQ] The results tally with another survey conducted by analyst Ovum for Microsoft last year, and they both show that universities have little or no idea what the industry really wants.[QQ] Workplace practices have changed - and doubly so in IT. In the 1960s, a degree meant so much more than it does today. Sometimes it was not so much the degree that mattered, but from which university it came. While many still think that this is the case, the reality is that all an employer wants is a junior staff member who can write a program.[QQ] The only way that universities can satisfy employers is to design courses which are practical and which include elements of vendor certification.[QQ] However, many universities are horrified at the prospect of designing practical courses. They say practicality is the watchword of colleges and polytechnics. So what exactly is their role?[QQ] Universities believe that computing is a philosophy - a mathematical method of thinking. Computers were designed by mathematical people and therefore computer science should be treated as an 'ology' or a an 'osophy', they argue. This places them at odds with employers who see computers as a machine which enhances their business.[QQ] With these two opposing philosophies at war, the result is that employers will stop hiring people with a computer science degree. They will say they do not want mathematicians or philosophers, they want Visual Basic programmers and someone who knows their way around a router. This would be fine if those applying for university degrees knew this. Instead they believe - with some justification - that they will leave university with a degree that will get them a job in an IT industry desperate for their skills.[QQ] One computer science student told me: 'I may as well have taken history, or philosophy. At least I would not have expected a job at the end of it. I should have gone to college to get a certificate in NT.'[QQ] Philip Williams, consultant for IT Recruitment, disagrees. 'A vendor certificate is too limiting for someone just starting out in their career.[QQ] It is better to have a general qualification and let the employer mould you with the training qualifications they need you to have,' he said.[QQ] But many employers do not wish to train an individual from scratch, and see a degree course as three or four years wasted.[QQ] Universities need to make their courses more practical, learn from colleges and develop partnerships with employers. This would result in courses that involved work experience and vendor certification running alongside the more traditional intellectual speculation. Then the conflicting philosophies of employers and universities could be reconciled, and an industry crying out for skills will start to be satisfied.