Universities Weblog

Welcome to the Credential Era, where degrees are currency. Bachelor's degrees have become standard; without one, it's difficult to rise in any profession. So now the consumer's focus has shifted to the quality of one's degree-hence the obsession with Ivies and such. And more people are pursuing graduate and professional degrees, hoping to gain some competitive advantage in the workplace.

Lifelong learning, once a rhetorical concept proffered by universities in mission statements and strategic plans, has caught on. Adults are returning to campuses, especially those in urban settings, to pursue second master's degrees, professional certificates and other forms of sheepskin. For some, learning has its own intrinsic rewards. But for most, it's all part of staying in the race.

Here's a bit from a recent Washington Post article that captured this phenomenon:

Adult education is thriving nationwide, with more than 92 million adults taking college classes. At the nearly 70 two- and four-year colleges in the Washington area, an estimated 175,000 adults are enrolled, 40 percent of them on a part-time basis. And increasingly, college officials say, they, like Krumm, are returning to school for a second advanced degree even as they juggle full-time jobs and families.

While such students are not specifically counted by the Education Department or individual colleges, anecdotal evidence from admissions officers and professors suggests that young professionals, in particular, are buying into the idea of lifelong learning. After all, a second advanced degree can help them stand out in an era when everyone seems to have a bachelor's degree, and more and more people have a master's.

"The life span of careers means that a credential you may acquire early on, an undergraduate degree and a first master's, may not be enough to sustain individual competitiveness over time," says Daphne Atkinson, vice president of industry relations for the Graduate Management Admission Council in McLean, who holds master's degrees in English literature and business management. "You are simply not competitive in the job market without a refresher."

You can read the rest here.

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