Whether college is necessary cannot be generalized. It depends on your personal goals, chosen major, university resources, and how you plan to use your college years.
The value of a university education is shifting from simply "certifying academic qualifications" to "certifying competencies." Its irreplaceable core values include:
- Providing systematic thinking training and methodological development; providing crucial space for trial and error and exploration.
- Academic qualifications remain a "stepping stone" for many careers: Emerging industries (such as artificial intelligence and new energy) face a significant talent gap.
- Helping students overcome cognitive limitations, broaden their horizons, and build interpersonal networks across regions and social classes.
- Providing practical platforms such as "integration of expertise and innovation"; the school-enterprise cooperative training model precisely meets the needs of businesses.
- Emphasizing the cultivation of critical thinking, innovation, and lifelong learning skills—key to adapting to future changes.
In the above situations, the decision and action you take are crucial:
- For those considering attending university
- Clarify your goals: Think clearly about your purpose for attending university. Is it to acquire specific expertise, experience a nurturing environment, obtain a diploma, or buy yourself more time for exploration?
Going with the flow without a goal is the biggest risk.
- Carefully choose your major and institution: Pay close attention to majors that align closely with national development strategies and emerging industries (such as artificial intelligence, new energy, and biomedicine). Also, evaluate the institution's training approach, university-enterprise partnerships, and the quality of its employment services.
- Evaluate the return on investment: Rationally assess your family's financial situation. If choosing a private institution, carefully consider the high tuition costs and the potential returns. Explore different pathways, such as vocational education; some high-quality vocational programs offer clearer career paths.
- For those currently attending university
- Actively connect industry and practice: Actively participate in internships, research projects, and social practice. This is the most effective way to bridge the gap between theoretical learning and the market, directly improving your employability. · Cultivate core transferable skills: Consciously cultivate "soft skills" such as critical thinking, complex problem-solving, cross-disciplinary learning, digital literacy, and teamwork.
These are core competencies required for any future career.
- Develop a lifelong learning habit: Recognize that university knowledge will become outdated, and cultivate the ability to continuously learn and renew oneself as fundamental to coping with future changes.
- Strive for a better education system and call for deep reform of the higher education system!
- Dynamically optimize professional offerings: Establish a dynamic response mechanism of "technological frontiers, industry needs, and professional adjustments" to eliminate the "generational gap" between talent development and market demand.
- Deepen industry-education integration: Promote "order-based" education models and jointly build industry-education integration platforms to allow students greater exposure to real-world industrial environments.
- Improve a diversified evaluation system: Eliminate the "degree-only" approach and promote the establishment of a diversified evaluation system, including "degree certificates + professional skills certificates," to ensure that skills and academic qualifications are equally competitive.
