The Essay
The changing purpose of a university degree
The traditional promise of a university degree as a pathway to stable employment is increasingly under strain.
By Soheil Davari, School of Management, University of Bath, and Kamran Razmdoost, Hult International Business School
"Since the pandemic, labour markets have become more fragmented, with technological adoption accelerating faster than universities can update their curricula."
"Assessment that values reflection, experimentation, and engagement with real problems better reflects the kinds of skills graduates will rely on throughout their working lives."
For a long time, a university degree carried a fairly simple promise. It was regarded as a pathway to stable employment and success and a cushion against uncertainty.
That promise continues to partially influence how higher education is perceived today, but it no longer aligns well with the labour market graduates will work in. The economic and technological conditions that once underpinned this promise have shifted dramatically.
Since the pandemic, labour markets have become more fragmented, with technological adoption accelerating faster than universities can update their curricula. Career paths are less linear, and stability is harder to secure, even for well-qualified graduates. Employers increasingly report concerns about graduates’ workplace readiness, particularly in areas such as teamwork and communication.
While these labour market conditions change, students continue to invest in higher education, often making substantial financial commitments. However, the value of this investment has become increasingly uncertain in the context of rising living costs and a less-secure labour market.
The insecurity has recently intensified further following recent changes to right-to-work regulations for international students in the UK and other countries. As degrees offer less certain stability or employment outcomes, students increasingly question the value of their investment. For higher education leaders, this creates a fundamental challenge, to redefine what a degree represents for students and employers while protecting the broader social contract of higher education.
This growing mismatch between graduate expectations and university degrees is one of the current debates about the purpose of higher education.
Much of the tension is a result of how university systems were originally designed. For much of their modern history, universities have been structured primarily to train researchers and scientists. Curricula and assessment were designed to develop disciplinary expertise and prepare a small proportion of students for a career in academia.
While this traditional model has been effective in advancing knowledge, it is inadequate in preparing graduates for the modern workplace. Additionally, the rising costs of higher education and the uncertainty over getting a job raise questions about equity, particularly whether students from less advantaged backgrounds face greater financial risk with degrees not translating into reliable employment.
Employers’ shifting expectations are already influencing how universities design and deliver programmes. The latest Future of Jobs report by the World Economic Forum highlights resilience, agility, flexibility and self-awareness among the most valued attributes employers look for in graduates. This represents a deeper shift in how recruiters define competence.
Beyond technical knowledge, organisations increasingly emphasise mindset, interpersonal capabilities and the ability to adapt to changing work contexts. In response, many universities are expanding programme design to integrate applied learning, industry engagement and experiential assessment, including role plays and entrepreneurial pitches, alongside traditional academic content.
These developments mark a redefinition of what universities are expected to deliver, combining intellectual development with clear pathways to employment.
A critical point is that students are not simply future employees. They will also be parents, volunteers, entrepreneurs and, above all, citizens. This means curriculum design needs to move beyond narrow alignment with specific job roles and focus more deliberately on ethical reasoning, collaboration, self-awareness, civic awareness and effective communication among others.
It also suggests a need to reimagine assessment methods. Assessment approaches that reward compliance and/or theoretical knowledge alone send the wrong signals, while assessment that values reflection, experimentation, and engagement with real problems better reflects the kinds of skills graduates will rely on throughout their working lives.
Broadening the mission of higher education is politically difficult. Integrating employability skills into an already-crowded curriculum is not straightforward. Many academics resist these changes, fearing that employability-focused approaches dilute academic rigour.
Moreover, academic promotion criteria and workload models often prioritise research outputs over teaching innovation or industry engagement. Shifting the purpose of a university degree cannot be achieved through isolated curriculum transformation. It requires changes at the institutional level. Without such evolution, universities risk losing relevance in the eyes of students as well as employers, while alternative providers step in to fill the gap.
A university degree is no longer simply a credential to signal subject expertise. It is intended to help students build and rebuild their careers over time with resilience and in the face of rapid changes to the environment.
Therefore, the purpose of a university degree can no longer be limited to transmission of disciplinary knowledge or preparation of a minority for academic careers. Instead, it is about equipping students with the intellectual foundations, personal resilience, self-awareness and ability to navigate the complexities of the world.
Universities can fulfil this role at scale. The relevance of higher education remains high, but expectations of what it should deliver have changed. University degrees carry three interconnected responsibilities: strong disciplinary foundations, interpersonal skills, and support for career progression.
While universities redesign their programme offerings to meet changing labour market demands, they should ensure that the revised programme designs support inclusivity and accessibility.