With many school leavers thinking about what university degree to apply for, and with so many degree qualifications – and universities – on offer, it can be a daunting decision.
For Professor Mark Gabbott, the Dean of the Business and Economics Faculty at Sydney's Macquarie University, the best degree to undertake is - not surprisingly - in business.
“The benefit of a business qualification is that it can apply to a myriad of different career paths,” explains Professor Gabbott.
“Young people are not really sure what they’re going to do when they’re 17 or 18 years old. Doing something like a business degree is a good grounding for almost anything, and can be useful in the private, public or non-profit sectors.”
It is a similar theme espoused by many education experts and those who have been through the degree mill themselves: the entry point to most jobs today is a degree of some type, and it is better to have a qualification than no qualification.
Bruce Guthrie, a policy adviser at Graduate Careers Australia agrees. He says that having a degree is the important point; that where someone does their degree and the grades they receive are only relevant for the first 3-6 months after graduation.
"Down the track, what counts is your motivation, working hard and continuing to develop."
Mr Guthrie says it's important for students to do something they want to do, and which will interest and motivate them for 3-4 years of study.
And Professor Gabbott believes it is parents who are often best placed to help their school leaver make a decision about which degree to do.
“We get many students at Macquarie who are the first people in the family to go to university, so it’s a learning curve for many parents also,” he says.
“But even if they’re not familiar with university themselves, parents have a very good knowledge of their kids. They know what they’re interested in, and they know how they best learn.
“For example: will they benefit from a degree with an internship? Do they need more directed learning? Can they be largely self-directed? Are they willing to take part in classes and activities outside the ‘traditional’ university teaching year? Are they studious? Are they adventurous?”
Professor Gabbott says there are three different types of business degrees.
- Classic– usually a Bachelor of Commerce or Bachelor of Business. It provides a solid program and is a good basis for getting a grounding in business practice.
- Custom Fit– this tends to be a qualification such as a Bachelor of Business Administration that offers students a lot of choice across a range of disciplines. “It lets students focus on what they want to do although, of course, not every subject is available at every university.”
- Specialist – these allow students to focus in an area dedicated to a job role, such as actuary, accountant, HR or marketing. “If a school leaver knows he or she wants to work in a particular area, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t just jump straight into it.”
A key component of Macquarie’s business degree offerings is what Professor Gabbott describes as the “third pillar” of the business curriculum – people, planet and participation, known as PACE. It gives students the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned in the lecture theatre or tutorial room to the real world of business. Professor Gabbott says students have taken-up their PACE internships locally, around Australia and around the world.
“We’ve got students in India, Africa, Peru at non-profits in Sydney and New York City and just down the road at a multinational organisation.”
The university assists students to find the right project from their pool of employers who are willing to offer placements and exchange programs with 300 organisations worldwide. He says that another sign of the value of a business qualification is that all of Macquarie’s degrees lead to entry to, and accreditation by, relevant professional associations.
From next year, Professor Gabbott says that Macquarie has introduced a new four-year Bachelor of Business Leadership and Commerce degree in recognition that employment opportunities are “shifting away from technical skills to the whole person”.
“Sometimes our graduates are not long out of university and they’re in managerial positions,” he says.
“It’s vital they learn and develop leadership and management skills - how to communicate, how to negotiate, how to deal with difficult situations, how and when to make decisions – as well as the technical skills to be, for example, a good marketer.
“We like to see our graduates know how business works, but also have the deep skills to deal with real life problems.”
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