University Degree as Valuable as Ever
Prince George, B.C. – The president of Universities Canada emphasized the importance of a university education while at UNBC this week.
Paul Davidson was invited for a tour of the university and to meet with faculty and students during a three-day trip.
Paul Davidson, president, Universities Canada at UNBC Thursday -photo 250News
“Well first of all we need skills of all kinds in this country,” he told reporters in McCaffrey Hall Thursday afternoon. “We have skill shortages right across the board.”
Even in the face of increased competition from community colleges? After all the B.C. government, has been pushing the importance of trades as seen in its much-publicized Skills for Jobs Blueprint.
“We’re very supportive of the work community colleges are doing to prepare for skilled trades and we’re working more closely between universities and colleges to find pathways for students that move in both directions.”
He said for some students that means getting a university degree and later supplementing their background with a different kind of skills.
“But what we do know is that university graduates do exceptionally well after graduation and that’s not just based on survey data,” said Davidson.
“There’s actually been some good research done over the last while looking at the income tax records of graduates from the class of 2008 from seven universities and colleges across the country and what it tracks is all post-secondary education is a valuable investment.”
To keep it a valuable investment though he said students will need to continue to adapt to our changing world.
“We’ve been very good in Canada at attracting international students – now we have to work on getting young Canadians out of Canada for part of their studies. So, they can see what’s happening in China, in India, Brazil,” said Davidson.
“To help them find these opportunities. We want them to come back to Prince George, back to the north, back to Canada, but we have to have a better understanding of what’s happening in these other parts of the world so that we can be global citizens so we can grow global businesses.”
Comments
Not everyone is built to go to University, or College. This is the problem with a lot of our society, where the parents put the pressure onto their kids to go to post secondary.
Their is nothing wrong with kids getting a trade. We still need mill workers. We still need line cooks, we still need waiters. We still need Janitors.
With this, I still agree, yes we need Registered Nurses, LPN, Doctors, Teachers, Scientists, Social Workers etc. But the young adults needs to make that choice, not their parents.
But my rant is….. whats with the kids these days. They don’t want to leave the nest. They keep hanging around. Some don’t even get their drivers license. Wow, our high school graduation present was a set of luggage.
What’s wrong with the kids nowadays? In a lot of ways they’re smarter than we were. They see a lot of work ahead, but it’s leading to a dead end. Will they ever ‘own’ a home? Or a car? Or any of the things that we owned, or soon (or later) got to when we were their age? Something we could take pride in because it was ‘ours’? Something we could look towards replacing with something better, and had some reason to work towards that? What have they got in comparison? A lifetime of endless payments and ‘ownership’ of what? Sweet bugger all! If we want to motivate the youth of today to do better than we did, or even as well, fix the stupid system that buries them under debts they’ll never be able to repay and only slide deeper and deeper into. There’s the REAL problem. But who is going to do anything about THAT?
IF I had to do it all over again I most definitely would get a degree of some sort
If I had to do it over again I would go for a trade.
I’d like to know which degrees he’s talking about. A BA is useful for toilet paper and not a heck of a lot more.
I disagree. PM Trudeau got a B.A. and look how he turned out :)
socredible- have to agree. One of the problems we have is there are more people working in low paying jobs than high paying jobs. We need to start paying a living wage sap. As far as I am concerned a person doing dishes in a cafe is just as important as many other high paying jobs. Some of the wages that are being paid today you will never own anything after you try to support yourself.
I agree low skilled labour is under appreciated, and likely underpaid. But the issue is there are lots of people who can wash dishes, not so many can repair a car.
But let’s say we do the living wage experiment. Keep in mind wages is about 40% of the service industries cost. 10% is their net income after all expenses and taxes.
So double minimum wage to a living wages – I personally believe is closer to $20.00 an hour – which BTW is about what Costco pays.
The $10.00 you currently spend at Timmies will have to go up to $14.00 to cover off the living wage.
The question is, will all the customers pay the increased price? If business drops off 10%, the owner reduces staff.
Then there’s the effect this happens on the mechanic who currently get’s $25.00. She’s going to want at least another $5.00, or she might as well not bother going to school, she might as well wash dishes. So raising minimum wage to living wage has the effect of reducing incentive to obtain skills, or, kicks off a massive inflationary effect.
And then there’s mechanization. Once wages reach a certain point, a machine becomes economical to use.
No simple answers to this one.
There is, actually, a very simple answer. There has to be an ‘augmentation’ to earned incomes that comes from a source which is not ‘costed’ into ‘prices’. This could very easily be done is we had a set of national accounts encompassing the whole of the economy arranged in the same manner we now have a set of accounts for each and every business. These accounts would be continually ‘written up’ by the amount that total national production exceeds total national consumption, if that is what’s actually happening. And in most instances, barring natural disasters, wars, etc., that actually destroy our means to produce, that IS what’s happening. Or any physical ‘progress’ would be impossible. From the periodic difference between the values of overall national ‘production’ and that of ‘consumption’, dividends to ALL could be paid which would be sufficient to augment earned incomes, or even replace them as jobs become increasing redundant through ongoing automation and technology. This would give the low wage earner enough to enjoy a rising standard of living, as well as everyone else.
Oldman1, the trick is to increase the ‘purchasing power’ of whatever wage is paid. Right now, if we raised the minimum wage to $ 15 or even $ 20 an hour, all that would happen is that everyone would be working with ‘bigger figures’. The buying power of the wage wouldn’t correspondingly increase, and in fact, due to the problem that ‘gross’ plus employer paid additions has to be costed into prices, while the wage earner only gets a ‘net’ which is less than that, it could have a worse effect on workers than where they were.
If, on the other hand, we were able to ‘augment’ EVERYONE’s income WITHOUT the amount paid being ‘costed’ into ‘prices’, the purchasing power of everyone’s income increases. One way to do this would be to have a REBATE on all consumer purchases based on the ratio by which total national production exceeds total national consumption. This would lower prices and forestall any inflation that might occur if the augmentation were simply paid to everyone solely in money.
I think a lot of the problem is, that the kids are spoiled. There is no reason for them to step outside, and leave all the comforts. Mommy cooks and does the laundry for them. Dad wants to kick them out to the curb. Mommy always win in domestic issues, so the kid hangs around and sponges off the parents.
Sometimes, no doubt. But will they be able to live on the wage they make, if they’re lucky enough to get a job at all? The answer in a lot of cases is “no”. Part of the blame for this has to rest on the shoulders of society. WE, as a society, mandate that youngsters today NOT do, or not even be able to do, some of the things we could very easily do when we were coming of age.
I graduated High School in 1965, and by 1969, after having three or four jobs, learning things from each of them, I was in business for myself. There were three basic requirements that I had to meet to satisfy our bureaucratic overlords to start and operate my own sawmill and lumber business. A business which I still have today, though increasingly I have to wonder “why?”. All three were easily met. Today, a young fellow wanting to do what I did then would be looking at least a two year period just to get through all the required permits. The cost would break him before he even pounded a nail!
But aside from that, look at the other changes that’ve occurred. Try to frame up your own house and move into it, paying for its finishing “as you go”. Not allowed. Try building a house that you could fully afford to finish, then vs. now. Could you do it without going into debt? I drove a truck with bald tyres, one wiper, and no signal lights as my first vehicle. It got me back and forth to work til I could afford something better. Wouldn’t be allowed on the road today. Times have changed. And not always necessarily for the better.
how many kids use the excuse, I’m depressed.
Well, depression is a luxury excuse used in the first world. I bet they don’t get to use that excuse in Bangledash, or Syria.
Actually depression is usually misdiagnosed, and yes it is used all over the world. You should leave your mom’s basement once in a while.
Sounds like the youth some of you folks are speaking of must hang out in the same curmudgeon corner as you do. The youth I have seen and met in their late teens are smart, well put together and have some plan or vision for the future. I only wish I had the same perspective that they do. Maybe they’re somewhat naive, but those are just lessons to be learned.
No problem apply for subsidy from the government the same way big business does.
Comments for this article are closed.