Americans
Rank A Google Internship Over A Harvard Degree
When asked what they
believe would be most helpful for a high school graduate to launch a career,
Americans overwhelmingly recommend an internship at Google (60%) over a degree
from Harvard (40%). This latest finding from research I led at Kaplan (conducted
by QuestResearch Group) is based on a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted in
December. It says an awful lot about the state of affairs in higher education
today.
For many, it will be
hard to fathom that an internship from a highly admired global company wins out
over a full degree from a world-renowned university. But it comes as no
surprise when viewed through the lens of the many public opinion studies done
on higher education over the past several years. I’ve written article after article after article about this. Here’s the summary:
· The
#1 reason
Americans value higher education is to get a good job.
· There
are very few believers in the work readiness of college graduates. Only 13% of U.S. adults, 11% of C-level executives and 6% of college and university trustees strongly agree with
statements about the work readiness of graduates.
· The
poor perceptions about college graduates’ work readiness is backed up by real
evidence as this current generation of college students is the least working in U.S. history and less than 1/3 of grads had a job or internship during college where they
were able to apply what they were learning in the classroom.
· These
factors, along with growing concerns about the affordability of higher
education, have led to a precipitous decline in young Americans’ views about the importance of college which
has dropped by almost 50% in just six years.
In short, Americans
are seeing more value in work experience and on-the-job training and less value
in traditional higher education. They have good reasons behind these views. And
on top of it all, there is ample evidence that the future of work and careers
will require a constant process of life-long education and training in various
forms – putting even more pressure on the traditional four-year degree model.
The recently conducted
research provided some additional insights and nuances that are important to
note. Among those who are parents, when asked about what they prefer for their
own child, the answers were split with 52% preferring a Google internship
versus 48% a Harvard degree. (With an N of 642 parents who have children in the
household, this was not a significant difference.) While parents with children
are less likely to prefer a Google internship compared to the overall general
population, half still chose it over a Harvard degree.
In a separate survey
fielded in mid-November (N of 2,000 U.S. adults), a slightly different question
was asked: “If you had $50,000 to invest in helping your child get a good job,
how would you rather spend it?” Two-thirds would have their child do an
internship at Google for one year (68%) rather than attend Harvard for one year
(32%). This question compared a year’s experience at each rather than a full
degree at Harvard which is most likely why the results are more strongly in
favor of the Google internship. But the interesting insight here is that it
suggests many parents are willing to invest in an internship experience.
This opens a whole new dimension to the talent development marketplace where
one can imagine a world where employers and education partners team up to
provide tuition-based internship programs.
So, what does it mean
for higher education when Americans chose an internship over a degree from the
top-ranked university in the country? Many might see it as a major threat to
higher education. But it’s also a tremendous opportunity. It’s an opportunity
to create an innovative fusion between education and work where higher
education remains relevant but in very different forms. It’s an opportunity for
colleges and universities to go beyond the accredited degree model and expand
into the rapidly growing space of non-degree, certificate and certification
training. And it opens the possibility of new partnership models between
employers and universities that produce interesting variants of
apprenticeships, co-ops, and internships.
There are two ways
higher education can react to the rapidly declining views of the importance of
college. One is to ignore it, hoping it’s just a public opinion cycle that will
swing back. The other is to view it as a mandate and opportunity for change to
become even more relevant than ever before to a wider group of students.
Despite higher education’s historic reluctance to change, the first option of
staying the course is by far the more risky one. Few signals tell us that more
clearly than when Americans vote for internships over degrees.