Some people think universities should provide knowledge and skills related to a future career; others think the true function of university is to give access to knowledge for its own sake. What is your opinions of the main function of university?

Some people think universities should provide knowledge and skills related to a future career; others think the true function of university is to give access to knowledge for its own sake. What is your opinions of the main function of university?

People have different thoughts about knowledge they could get through thier higher education. Some believe that the main function of university is giving access to knowledge to graduates for its own sake, others think it should have relations with future career. In my view, I believe in latter one that universities should provide job-related skills.

People who believe universities should provide the knowledge to graduates for their own sake as it can satisfy students’ interests. For their interests, they can acquire knowledge quicker and better and possibly will become scientists or scholars then making greater contributions to society. But these people are few.

From the perspective of most students, attending university is to receive skills and knowledge that could be used for their future life, being independent and make a living, mostly in their workplace. Learning job-related knowledge could make them specialised in some particular areas and be competitive in the job market. Thinking about not being taught the skills before getting into a workplace, people usually do not know what they should do to accomplish the task.  Some may even lose the job because they can not learn new things quickly and possibly taken place by others who can make it out in a quicker and better, professional way. So providing job-related skills to graduates is more likely making them specialised in an area and be competitive in future career.

Additionally, teaching information related to the job market can also benefit the university itself. For instance, the intelligent electronic devices Apple Inc introduced, like the iPhone and iPad, have marked a milestone in the technical areas and drawn massive interest in information technology. If a university can quickly respond, and can consolidate teaching resources to offer courses about information technology, not only will its graduates be more competitive in the job market, but the university itself will keep pace with technological development and meet people’s interests and needs.

In conclusion, the main function of universities is to make graduates lead an independent life in the future, by providing job-related knowledge, which also benefits universities themselves.