The digital industry is a fast changing industry full of constant innovation. There is a huge risk that skills taught today will be outdated by graduation! Universities are struggling to keep up with skills demand and new technology entering the digital world. So the real question is... are we better off keeping up with upcoming technology by skipping university?
Recent research suggests that parents can be responsible for the digital skills gap by encouraging their children into stable and traditional careers. 1 in 10 of 2000 parents admitted that they would discourage their child to undertake a degree related to digital and rather see them study law or medicine.
But is this more beneficial for today's era?
With fields like marketing moving towards using more data and analytical tools, it's not enough to be a creative genius anymore. This means that the skills gap is becoming even larger and with big data, content marketing, mobile etc. being the future, there is a challenge for educators to combine analytics with creative as well as keeping up with constant innovation from companies who are expecting them to already have advanced digital skills.
This is where the universities need to step it up and teach skills needed in a job rather than for the next exam. Right now many employers experience that they either have to take on analytical graduates and train them in the creative areas or the opposite. It is very difficult for them to find graduates with both skill sets.
So, Can the universities help here or will a few YouTube videos teach you more?
Source: Salt
