Is a university degree necessary for future success?

I remember speaking to a class of Grade 11 students a few years ago and announcing an apprenticeship opportunity with Google in Zurich. It was for students who were 16 or older and could speak German and English.

It was a four-year apprenticeship in which they would work for Google three days a week and attend a specialist school teaching subjects related to the apprenticeship for two days a week. After the four years, they would be a qualified software engineer and have four years of work experience with Google on their CV. As a bonus, they would also receive a monthly wage from the start.

None of the students was remotely interested.

When I enquired why, they all said that they had to go to university because it would provide them with more opportunities in future than an apprenticeship with Google.

University degrees and the future of work

This perception of a university degree as essential for future success seems to be even more common in 2024 than in 2019, despite the fact that we are seeing numerous published articles on the future of the workplace and how it is rapidly changing. For example, in 2020, the World Economic Forum said: “Clearly, the future of work will not be about college degrees; it will be about job skills.”

Companies recruiting graduates are increasingly stating that the skills they are looking for in their employees are missing from university graduates. Other companies, such as Accenture and IBM, have announced that they are dropping the undergraduate requirement for their jobs and focusing more on skills-based hiring.

In January 2024, an article was published on research.com, written by data scientist Imed Bouchrika, entitled “15 best companies to work for without a degree in 2024”, with Apple, Google and Penguin Random House in the top three. So why are we not hearing more families talk about applying for these types of opportunities?

Apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships: providing work-based skills

In the “olden days”, apprenticeships were considered to be for people who wanted to become a plumber or carpenter but today there is a breadth of apprenticeships in many sectors such as technology, finance, marketing and media. Perhaps this message has not been widely disseminated to the younger generation?

Here in Switzerland, our German-speaking students have the luxury of being able to participate in the Swiss apprenticeship programme (Lehrstelle), with thousands of different apprenticeships available – such as the Google one mentioned. Even so, we are seeing an increasing number of Swiss students entering the international school system so that they can go to university instead of into an apprenticeship.

In the UK, there is also a strong apprenticeship programme, as well as many degree apprenticeships, in which you mix university with work and finish not only with a degree (paid for by the company) but with many professional skills needed for the future.

Yet, certainly in my school, all the UK and Swiss applications are for traditional university degrees, not degree apprenticeships. So what, as university counsellors, do we do about this when we advise our students and families about life beyond school? How can we promote these different pathways so that they become a viable choice for a young person’s future?

One of my personal professional goals this year, and over the next five years, is to increase the visibility of these different pathways to our school community. If my community can learn about these opportunities and see the benefits, the idea that the traditional university degree is the only way will perhaps slowly dissolve, and our community will realise – and value – the fact that there are many options post-school to fully consider.

Apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships: some facts

1. What are apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships?

Apprenticeships are full-time, paid jobs immediately post-school, with a clear, directed training programme. Degree apprenticeships are a part-time paid job coupled with part-time university study (paid for by the company).

2. Which students should consider them?

 All students eligible (there is a visa and residency requirement) should consider them. Not all will want to apply to these alternative options, but they should learn about them and consider them before saying no.

3. What are the benefits?

The obvious benefit is that the student receives an income (in both the apprenticeship route and the degree apprenticeship route). Another benefit of the degree apprenticeship is that the student still graduates with a degree but not only have they not had to pay for their tuition, they have earned money while studying.

But let’s stop talking about the financial benefits for a second. There is another massive benefit of both pathways: the development of those work-based skills that companies are increasingly looking for in their employees, and which they are not finding in traditional university graduates.

4. What are the preconceptions around apprenticeships and apprenticeship degrees?

As mentioned before, some people may still consider apprenticeships to apply only to more vocational roles, such as plumber, hairdresser or carpenter, which perhaps they are not interested in.

In 2024 this is not the case – there are many opportunities in many different sectors. In Switzerland, there is still a stigma around apprenticeships being for less academically gifted children, and so there isn’t necessarily a push towards this pathway from families. As a mother of a child who was academically gifted enough to follow the Swiss education route to university but chose to opt for the apprenticeship route, I can confidently say that this is not true.

5. Are there any disadvantages?

In my opinion, no, but let’s look at the research. If you choose this route, you do have to opt for a specific pathway. At the age of 17 or 18, many students still don’t know what they want to do. So if they choose an apprenticeship or degree apprenticeship, they may be limiting their future in terms of the career direction they eventually want to take.

The apprenticeship student also does not have the opportunity to experience the typical undergraduate student life, meeting lots of similar-aged people and investing a lot of time in social activities because, with an apprenticeship or degree apprenticeship, you will be working full days and expected to conform to the usual standards of a professional life.

Even if our school communities are fully informed of the different post-school options, we may not see a change in the number of applications to these alternative pathways. But if we don’t fully inform our communities about them, how are they to know if this is indeed a viable option for them?