Reality of life after college

EDITORIAL

Summer has ushered in a harsh reality for the fresh batch of college graduates. After years of study, work and hardship, students are finding it hard to live up to the euphoria of finishing a “normal” degree and getting ahead in life. It is hard to find a job, start a business due to lack of capital or go abroad for greener pastures owing to lack of seed money.    

            With the coming school year, students and their parents could reassess the “better” or more practical courses to keep up with the times.

            Even legislators have noted this like Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano who called on the education sector and parents to advise prospective college students to enroll in “traditional job creator” courses to increase their chances at employment upon graduation.

            The senator noted that according to the Department of Labor and Employment and a study entitled “Project Jobfits 2012”, the services sector will be the main creator of jobs between years 2012 and 2020.

            He suggested that students should instead be encouraged to enroll in courses related to “traditional

job creators” in the services sector, i.e., cyberservices, health and wellness, tourism, banking and finance, transportation and logistics, and wholesale and retail trade.

            Cayetano also cited agribusiness and mining as other big job makers identified by DOLE. He said enrolling in oversubscribed courses like nursing, education and criminology could only worsen the unemployment situation in the country since more graduates will end up competing for jobs in industries with limited openings.

            According to Cayetano, when these students graduate in the future, they should have the necessary skills to gain employment in sectors that have the capacity to accommodate them.

            The minority leader urged the Department of Education, the Commission on Higher Education and DOLE to jointly launch career guidance symposiums in schools around the country, saying students need to be made aware that there are other courses for promising careers that they should consider enrolling in.

            The legislator also pointed out that higher education institutions (HEIs) in the country need to improve skills development of their service sector-related courses in order to improve their students’ chances at being employed.

            Pertinent legislation could be filed in Congress on this matter.