The ViewUniversities should not become glorified vocational training colleges
Vocational training schools do good work but the idea that universities should be adapted to this role is misguided at best, dangerous at worst
Should universities be glorified vocational training colleges whose main task is to prepare students for business careers? This week Shinzo Abe's government attempted to answer the question with an announcement that Japan's public universities are being re-tooled to focus on scientific research and vocational training.
Abe's vision of what universities should be doing is widely shared in other countries, not least in business communities where you often hear dismissive talk about "Ivory Towers". However the idea that universities should be reduced to being mere vocational training schools is at best misguided, and at worst dangerous.
I have nothing against training schools. Indeed, Hong Kong has an admirable network of vocational training institutes but there is a problem in confusing their role with that of universities.
Abe and his colleagues are worried about a skills shortage and seem to believe that Japan's competitiveness is being held back by universities focusing on liberal studies and engaging in research that lacks a so-called practical purpose.
However, the glory of the finest universities is that, at the undergraduate level, they provide a rounded education and inspiration for some of the smartest young people who will later enter a variety of professions and businesses but are not required to make career decisions at a young age; they can do so later on the basis of a comprehensive education, preparing them for a variety of options.
Great universities are a caldron of ideas and experimentation, some of which leads to the invention of new devices and new ways of thinking but, hopefully, all of which enriches human life with intellectual vigour.