GERMANY INSTEAD OF LOOKING MORE SKILLED WORKERS TO MEET SHORTAGE GOVT DECIDED THAT STUDENTS SHOULD ATTEND UNIVERSITIES WITH RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN DIPLOMAS AND DEGREES ENABLING TO RECRUIT THEM IN THE COUNTRY 29TH JANUARY 2014 Creating as many skilled employees as possible cannot be the answer to the shortage of skilled labor have finally recognized the shortage of skilled labor in Germany and now wish to combat it by promoting more students to attend universities and facilitating the recognition of foreign diplomas. Further suggestions for improvement are the lowering of specialized requirements for the practice of certain professions, the accreditation of more educational facilities, also those who are commercially aligned, to award degrees, or the substitution of scientific preparatory training for practical experience, such as for the entry to scientific universities, or for doctorate candidates. These suggestions, whether feasible or not, have one thing in common: they attempt to counteract the lack and have as many people as possible become skilled employees by facilitating their access to degrees and improve the permeability of the educational system. However, this could cause the country to be overrun with titles, degrees, and diplomas which may ultimately not represent the desired and expected skills, and can barely be differentiated from each other. It is not the degree, but the competence and quality of an education which created skilled labor. As many businesses, but also personnel consultants, are currently complaining, businesses are suffering not from a low number of applicants, but from a lack of good, appropriate candidates – a qualitative shortage of skilled labor. The problem is not new, but in times of a commercialized education and the pressure of insufficient skilled labor, it becomes more urgent. New degrees and educational diplomas are being developed, or the requirements for certain educations are lowered simply in order to create more graduates. The demand for more university graduates reaches its limits when the entry into universities is facilitated and the selection expands. Not everyone may be qualified for a university education, and many may be dragged along. Not even an expensive elite university can make a skilled graduate out of an unqualified one. The desire of universities for quicker studies, more students, and easier admission will cause the course of studies to become artificial, limited to certain fields of study, and promote education exclusively geared toward the transfer of knowledge, instead of promoting independent thinking, decision-making skills, and academic values, all of which are very important nowadays. For this reason, some of the established Master and Bachelor degrees created as part of the Bologna Process have been criticized. There are also new courses of study available whose academic qualifications should be questioned. For example, the Master of Arts in Beatles, Popular Music and Society, or Event Management do not establish a scientific course of study. On other educational fronts apart from the universities, there are also fantastic examples of titling, which furthermore suggest a verbal closeness to university degrees, such as the diploma in supervising leisure activities or a Master of Accupressure. And even a state-approved gorge or snow show guide may surely be a skilled worker who deserves trust, but whose title alone seems a bit ambitioned. Beyond the protected degrees, many educational facilities, who are often commercially driven, but also private individuals use degrees and diplomas that are not protected and that do not require any prerequisite skills, but that transmit the impression of a skilled worker with a recognized degree. The business economist is quite easily mistaken with the accredited business economist with a degree, and oftentimes it remains unclear what is meant under “certified” (such as certified etiquette trainers) or “recognized”. There must be clear investigations on who exactly certified or examined the skills. The same goes for additions such as “qualified” or even “academically verified”. For example, some automobile manufacturers now call their customer service “Certified Service Consultants”. The titles, degrees, and diplomas become a problem when they cannot be differentiated without a profound understanding or when they are able to distract and dissimulate from inadequate skills and knowledge. The federal government furthermore wishes to facilitate the entry of foreign skilled labor. In principle, this would be beneficial, but the subsequent larger variety of titles and degrees would only lead to more insecurity and the danger of hiding inadequate skills behind a pretty degree. Because some foreign titles and degrees are similar to the ones in Germany, but require different qualifications and have conditions attached to the completion of the degree which are unknown here, there is a lot of caution advised when attempting to facilitate the recognition of foreign degrees in Germany. This also goes for attemptfotos 1 Yago Veith, 2 Jackson Carson, 3 Dave Heuts, 4 Chris Zerbes (alle flickr) Quelle Datenbank EU-Kommission ing to give currently unlicensed German institutions the right to bestow protected German or accepted international degrees to their graduates. All of this poses not only a problem for businesses who cannot properly evaluate the quality of applicants, “consultants”, or “coaches”, but also for every citizen, who for example is looking for a medical specialist. The wrong choice can bring about health complications for the latter one, while the business may suffer great financial losses if the applicant – once employed – doesn’t live up to the expectations the degree promises. Very easily, the applicant themselves may overestimate their skills because of their ambitious title. Therefore we can find schools in Germany, in which the pupils there already call themselves “students” (in terms of university students) and attend their graduation with cap and gown. Given these circumstances, which pupil will not feel called for higher purposes? What is to be done? We do not need more and newer degrees, diplomas and titles. Instead, the already existing ones should be more specific and easier to differentiate. There is no point in bringing together many different educational levels under a similar title, in which the differences are hard to see. Instead of lowering the admission requirements and the educational standards in order to produce more graduates, the underlying educational structures should be strengthened, and applicants should be led toward them. The consecutive courses of study, as well as the sponsoring of trade crafts, are steps in the right direction. This should restrict the permeability of the educational system, but should also determine the admission requirements for specific fields of study. Waiting periods or practical experiences should not replace previous education or qualifications, and should not be added towards an academic degree. The last part would be as if the gold medal would be given to the functionary and not the athlete
Posted on: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 03:52:43 +0000
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