When is a postgraduate qualification a smart investment – and when is it an expensive mistake? Graduate Fog helps you weigh up the pros and cons of further study.
Have you noticed how many not-particularly-studious graduates are suddenly asking the question, ‘Should I do another course?’ But Graduate Fog doesn’t blame you. Being ejected from the cosy world of higher education into the cold, recession-hit job market is brutal – no wonder your first instinct is to go back for postgraduate study.
Doing another course can be a fantastic investment in your future. But it can also be a complete waste of money. And because ultimately it’s your money (even if you fund your studies with a loan, you still have to pay it back – plus there’s living expenses), Graduate Fog urges you to look very carefully before you leap.
The scary truth is that thousands of graduates are making terrible decisions that will cost you thousands of pounds – without improving your job prospects at all.
NEXT: DOS AND DON’TS WHEN CONSIDERING FURTHER STUDY
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Hello Tanya
After I graduated I had everyone pressuring me to go back to university. A lot of them gave me the “a degree isn’t enough” line. Once I found out that there was virtually no funding for further study I was reluctant to spend such a large amount of money or get into more debt for something that may not have even made me more employable. I know several people with masters that cant get a job.
I would really like to thank you for this article as I could easily have just given in to what everyone was telling me to do. I think all 3rd year students should read this. For one thing its one of the few articles I have read about further study that even mentions the costs involved. Everything else seems to just gloss over it or not even mention it which seems irresponsible with the amount of money involved.
Incidentally I made a link to this page on Prospects which didn’t get removed unlike the one mentioned in your blog.
Hi Tanya,
I work for Skillset, which is the Sector Skills Council for the Creative Media Industries. We have found that while post-graduate study is highly valued in the media sector (almost 30% of the workforce possesses a post-grad qualification), more and more people and businesses are looking for post-grad courses that can fit around their working schedule and provide them with practical and up-to-date skills that they can use in their day to day work.
In response to this need, Skillset has developed the Build Your Own MA programme, which comprises about 80 (though more are being added all the time) professional development courses in modern media disciplines that are delivered through Universities and carry credits towards a post-grad qualification.
That means that a media professional can take a modular approach towards earning an MA by stacking up the credits from these CDP courses as and when they want to take them. The courses are being delivered through the Skillset Media Academy network in England (hopefully it will expand throughout the UK eventually), with different Academies offering a different selection of courses, and all the Academies recognise the credits earned from the other institutions within the network.
Hopefully this information is of some help to any people working in the media who are thinking of doing some post-grad education, but are worried about how they can make it fit in with their careers. More info on the Build Your Own MA programme can be found here: http://courses.skillset.org/build_your_own_ma