Therefore, while University lectures remain as one-way information flows, they remain far less educative than they should be. I don’t think they’re doomed, as the very concept of University is rather old-fashioned, yet much of the world still expects you to have received a University education. So, it’s likely that they will continue to be far less effective than they should be until progress catches up with Universities, and they begin to structure classes into dynamic, collaborative, open forums.

David (the author of this post) here. Interesting point you’ve raised in that developing well-rounded independent learners and inquisitive professionals, these individuals can contribute to others in and outside of the workplace.

An article connected to your point (and featured in our Top 5 this week) is here: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/19/interview-co-editors-new-book-future-business-education

It makes the argument that business education should be more well-rounded, so that individuals can be creative and critical in approach in their professional field and careers.

Best,
David

Honestly, I don’t know, but I think assessment and career incentives play a big role in determining the culture of how practical students are.

I think students in Vietnam and Hong Kong are more exam focused than those in New Zealand or the UK (all countries where I have lived). Perhaps a part of this might be that the consequences of failing are so much higher in VN and HK. Having a low-skill and thus likely a low-pay job in VN or HK is a whole lot worse than it is in NZ and (I think) the UK, where you can have a decent, if not entirely easy, lifestyle with less money.

With that said, I went to a university in the UK with *all* the assessment taking place in eight three hour exams over 10 days at the end of my degree. It was easy not to be focused on assessment and to indulge ourselves in what *we* considered worthy, not what we thought the exam/curriculum would consider worthy. When I got back to NZ and took a law paper, it was interesting to overhear undergrads talking about taking the courses that were easiest to get good marks in – understandable given that to get into the law programme in the second year you needed an A- average in the first. Incentives at play again.

My impression is that students in the US are more practical about their education than the British. Again looking at the assessment incentives, this might be because it’s very difficult to fail a paper in the UK (you just get a bad degree classification instead and everyone knows you did a bit rubbish…but at least you still get your degree!) whereas failing is (I think) more common in the US.

British students also seem to be more likely to study what they want rather than what they think will get them a good job. From what I’ve seen, employers in the UK are tolerant about a seemingly irrelevant degree than other places I’ve lived. Perhaps this is changing, though. The recent increase in fees saw less people taking non-lucrative subjects (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jan/30/uk-university-applications-drop-ucas and http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2012/jan/30/university-applications-subjects-age-poverty)

Related to this are two articles that will be in tomorrow’s Top 5:

New Model for Business Education – Inside Higher Ed: says that business education needs to be more rounded so that graduates are not able to just do the mechanisms of business, but be creative, understand cultural context, etc, as these are vital for business success.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/04/19/interview-co-editors-new-book-future-business-education

How to Assess the Real Payoff of a College Degree – The Chronicle of Higher Education: an in depth article looking at both sides of the argument about whether return on investment should be central to universities’ purpose.
http://chronicle.com/article/Is-ROI-the-Right-Way-to-Judge/138665/

A question to you – Do these students exist primarily in Asia, possibly as a result of “tiger parents”, or are common globally?