Opinion: Time for the old debate: degree versus diploma

The Grade 12 preliminary exams are in progress. By the end of next week, as the exams are nearing completion, Grade 12’s will be confronted with the great “Degree versus Diploma Debate”. The Grade 12’s and their parents will hear fiery arguments from both schools of thought.

The fact is that not all professions require a degree at all. A Diploma in which all the student’s exams were assessed by an external and independent examining body could hold more weight than a degree who depended on an internal exam. In fact, some external examining bodies have a required pass mark of 60% compared to the required pass mark of 50% for the majority of degrees and diploma’s in South Africa.

There is also at least one professional body in South Africa that provides multiple levels of professional designations to students after they completed their first qualification, and have basic work experience of at least six months.

The combination of a 60% required pass mark and membership to a professional body that allows students to start their own practice, is therefore a combination that should be taken more seriously by recruiters.

For years, recruiters have been blinded by the belief that a degree is the only valid qualification into the job market. They are completely unaware of the fact that some of the young diplomats have a qualification where the minimum required pass mark supersedes the required pass mark of some the mainstream tertiary institutions.

Employers need to ask themselves who would be better qualified to do a certain job: the degreed person with an average of 50% or the person with a diploma on which the minimum pass mark is 60%? The answer seems obvious.

It is time that parents should ask whether a degree is really the passport to sustainable workeracy. Since there is a scarcity of jobs, the youth needs a qualification that is recognised by a professional body and that provides them with a mandate to start their own professional practice WITHOUT a degree.

Can the youth afford to be held ransom based on an outdated belief of “Degree or nothing”?

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