Last month, SFU President Andrew Petter addressed the Vancouver Board of Trade regarding the value of traditional university education — specifically, liberal arts degrees — in today’s ever-changing global economy.
The BC Liberals have recently begun “re-engineering” the education system and choosing which specific post-secondary programs will be funded and which will not according to labour market needs. This motion is currently encouraging students to pursue careers in skilled trades that are faced with a shortage of workers.
Beginning this September, $160 million currently in the post-secondary education system will be redirected toward programs the Liberals feel are important for BC’s economy. In four years, they will have redirected approximately $400 million.
Despite this overhaul, SFU’s president does not believe this “re-engineering” will majorly affect the university.
Petter dismisses the “barista” argument — which claims that every coffee shop has an over-educated university graduate employee — as an urban legend by presenting the bare facts. According to a provincial study, 78 per cent of jobs in the next decade will require post-secondary education, and more than 45 per cent of those jobs will require university education.
In fact, Petter told The Peak that he was encouraged by the Liberals’ announcement, because although their plan focuses on “priority job areas,” it was not limited to the trades. Furthermore, it did not claim that the labour market’s needs should be the only criteria for education. He mentioned that the current education system was already progressing along with the labour market by offering more programs in engineering, health sciences, and business.
The liberal arts, according to Petter, also plays an essential role in today’s economy. “Liberal arts is not just for liberal arts students. It’s important in creating the writing and creativity and problem solving abilities that inform all students [. . .]” He also believes that the provincial government’s “re-engineering” will reflect this in the coming years.
Petter also noted that businesses are not looking to hire people pre-trained in their industries, but for individuals with intellectual skills, creativity and writing abilities, which are provided by liberal arts education. In the end, he said, it all comes down to striking a balance between filling presently vacant jobs and planning for the future.
Despite this overhaul, SFU’s president does not believe this “re-engineering” will majorly affect the university.
“We’re in a ‘global knowledge’ economy now, where knowledge is the main currency, and what that means is, yes, we can prepare people for jobs that exist today, but in many cases the jobs that exists today won’t exist five years from now,” said Petter.
“And if we want to be competitive we’re going to have to create new jobs and new opportunities and have people who can think creatively outside the box, and can problem solve, and [who] can create the opportunities of the future.”
Petter used the example of the liquefied natural gas industry to illustrate that an overwhelming emphasis on the trades is not necessarily required. Although such an industry certainly requires skilled trades workers, it also needs scientists, engineers, business people with managerial, marketing, and human resources skills, and those who can assess the industry’s social and environmental impacts.
Communities built around the liquefied natural gas industry will also require doctors, teachers and a multitude of other service providers, all of whom would require university educations.
Petter stressed, “To think, even in the natural resources area, that we don’t need people with university education generally, or liberal arts in particular, is simply wrong, and thankfully the labour market studies that have been done validate that.”
He continued, “It is really important that we remember that university education, as much as it is about getting a job and being successful, it’s also about developing one’s capacities as a citizen. And one of the great things about university education is that it does both.”
