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His degree performed like a Morris Marina – one of the most ridiculed cars of the 1980s .
Driving ambition
What kind of degree are you driving ?
By Jim Mienczakowski and Greg Whateley
If your degree was a car , how far has it taken you along your life and career journey ? How reliable has that car been in getting you to your next destination ? And are you still driving the same make and model ?
Yes , COVID-19 lockdowns have created a new pastime : automotive-themed degree analogies . And we ’ ve enjoyed hours of fun developing alternative league tables and rankings to compare Australian and global institutions .
Our consideration of brands and cars range from specific degrees hyped as having the performance of Lamborghinis , to those equating to the defunct Trabant brand of East Germany and the Russian Lada Rivas of the late 1980s .
We have firm , general favourites ascribed to some of our institutions as their particular brand or flag identities . Nissan has been repeatedly associated with one university – not so much because of its Renault Groupe affiliations or major vehicles lines , but because of its former CEO Carlos Gohsan ’ s fall from grace .
Another , this time a Top 100 , is firmly in the frame as a Volvo-branded entity . It ’ s not because of the high-end emphasis on safety , luxury and prestige associated with that brand ( although these traits also apply to the university in question ). It is because Volvo is owned by China ’ s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group .
In our own personal cases , one of our alma maters could be branded as , perhaps , Jaguar – but produced a degree which performed more like a 1970s Citroen 2CV : a wonderful car , but indeed basic . It took not one but two further degrees in order to generate anything resembling a Jaguar-like career experience . The other author went to a Mercedes university and gained a Holden Commodore degree . It performed like a Morris Minor in respect to early career prospects .
Naturally , perception is central in how choices are ultimately made . By way of example , a former colleague – let ’ s call him Brian * – gained a degree from the UK ’ s Open University ( OU ) in 1981 , as he had a family and could not attend full time studies . He described the OU as a Holden brand , but his degree performed like a Morris Marina – one of the most ridiculed cars of the 1980s .
The issue was one of perception . The OU was relatively new and study took place remotely in the days before both internet and personal computers . It was sneered at as a learning institution by those who had the ability and support to take more traditional learning pathways .
Brian described his university experience as feeling like , “ having never read the book but I had seen the film ”. The external perception was that his degree was in some way ‘ inferior .’ In fact , Brian ’ s degree was a very solid and robust foundation for further learning , and he went on to later complete a PhD at a prestigious university .
From our little game , a clear pattern seems to have emerged : no matter how an entire university has been branded most respondents thus far have not driven ( in their early careers ) the same brand as their parent universities . Even more curious is the similarity of the vehicles that graduates have chosen to reflect their early ( first 10 or so years ) careers .
Thus far , we are finding that people often consider their first degrees to have been equivalent to small to mid-ranged Holdens , Toyotas , Fords and Hyundais .
Of course , there are exceptions . Our ‘ Lambo ’ degree claimant joined his uncle ’ s law firm upon graduating ( and he already possessed a Mercedes as a student ). The playing field , like life , is far from level . There are also VW and Honda degree drivers a-plenty , who may have also come from different starting points .
In all seriousness though , our point here concerns the added emphasis placed on degree brands by employers and society in general . All Australian degrees have met TEQSA ’ s high standards . At undergraduate level , the degrees gained across our nation are not as varied in quality or performance as some may wish to believe . Clearly the degree holders we have spoken to feel that this is the case .
It is , perhaps , time that we took another look at our tertiary education system and more thoroughly valued the good work and hard-earned outcomes of our graduates , no matter the brand of their universities . After all , it seems that we don ’ t necessarily all drive the same brand of degrees that are badged by our alma mater institutions .
( P . S . The inaugural Car Degree Rankings are still open for submissions .) * Name has been changed for privacy reasons . ■
Emeritus Professor Jim Mienczakowski is a Higher Education Consultant . Emeritus Professor Greg Whateley is Deputy Vice Chancellor at Group Colleges Australia .
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