Apparently, "40 per cent of existing university degrees will soon be obsolete"

[Joseph41]

Let's say you spend 13 years going through the education system in order to get into a university degree. Let's say you then study that degree, only for a lot of its content to no longer be relevant just a matter of years after you graduate.

Would you feel cheated - at least partially? Does the idea of degrees having a limited shelf-life reduce your enthusiasm for uni?

Source: Pallavi Singhal's article for The Sydney Morning Herald.

[PhoenixxFire]

I don't think I really know enough about this to comment but I think that so long as the degrees are relevant when they are taught (which it seems a lot aren't) then it shouldn't really matter if they become irrelevant later - by that point you would hopefully have job experience and be up to date with changes in the area anyway.

[cooldude123]

I think there's a difference between the relevance of degrees and the concept of lifelong learning. We are unlikely to remember much of the minutiae in the material that we're taught during primary school and high school - for instance, I'd be hard pressed to remember quotes from Henry IV or the finer details of the French Revolution, but it's arguably taught us relevant skills that will be useful for employment or further education - such as in effective communication, teamwork (from group assignments), critical thinking or in the scientific method. Arugably, some of these skills might not be particularly well developed and taught in higher education (especially if employers/students aren't satisfied) but it's not necessarily the point of degrees for graduates to retain and apply all of the curricula in their work/research.

As to the concept of lifelong learning - I think it's something of a concept that students and graduates should recognise as a requirement for many professions. In health sciences for instance, continuing professional development is often required both informally (eg healthcare professionals keeping up with advances in medical science through journals and conferences) and formally (requirements for professional accreditation), and universities should develop curricula around this (such as encouraging students to develop skills in critically appraising research papers for STEM courses, or providing placement/internship opportunities)