What do you think about higher education, is it necessary these days?

One underappreciated aspect of going to a large university was just how much it opens your eyes to the opportunities available to you. Coming from a small town and then going to a large public school (Purdue) vastly broadened my perspective of the opportunities available.

Education is and education will always be necessary throughout. All the guys who complain about education are those who've achieved significant milestones in their life through education. Try to read people who've become rich and famous without education and somewhere they would have mentioned "I wish I would have studied."

Higher education is not about knowledge. It teaches you how to think, to analyze, to communicate. Of course nowadays you can learn anything using online courses or YouTube and get certifications, but it does not give you the connections and network, it does not develop your interpersonal skills. First of all each of us need to know how to communicate and how to make connections, which you can develop in universities.

Wow! there's a lot being said here.. and I haven't gone through the earlier replies. But - my view is a big NO! I have been actively pushing my cousins and younger folks in neighbourhood to take an academic break or push their Graduate studies by a year or two - instead work in a startup or learn new skills and build shit. Academia is fast losing relevance in our today and tomorrow.

In my opinion, this is a must for highly responsible professionals, like doctors, lawyers, and engineers. As for the rest, I recommend it, but not in the States. It's a rip-off!

Depends on what you want to do with your life. If you want to be a doctor, hell yes it's necessary! As far as IT goes, however, I think no educational institution is adaptive enough to be able to catch up with the tempo things are changing here.

Depends on what you're doing. Doctors and Lawyers, please go to school. Everyone else, well, eh. That degree will not have value to an employer. Trust me.

As a Software Engineer, I don't notice that I don't have a degree. Maybe it means it's not necessary for me and people who do similar things.

no

I think we are living in great times. Structured school / college education is overrated in my opinion. There are pros in terms of networking, social skills etc. But the pace of education is very slow. For eg. If someone wants to learn to code, a person can become a decent coder in 6 months to 1 year by doing self learning, online courses which would otherwise take longer in higher education. In other fields as well, I believe learning from a university / school is 10% of the job. The rest of the experience comes by working on actual projects. If I had to do over it again, I would still do undergrad, because if is fun to be around friends, socialise and network. But I would focus on gaining skills that would help in real world projects / job rather then studying boring theory!

I won't say it's necessary, it's just that now more than ever opting for higher education should be thoughtful. Whether the desired higher education is giving me a perspective, helping me in my career, or even just fulfilling my desire to learn more. It should not be like if the world is doing it then I also need to go for it or if I don't have higher education then I won't succeed, all these kinds of societal notions should not be the deciding factors. Some professions demand higher education to learn more or excel in their fields and even some companies require a higher degree to promote people even if they are good. So, in the end, it's a conscious decision but one thing is sure it's not a kind of necessity that will hinder one's success.

It depends on a profession. I don't think there are any professions in online business that certainly require higher education. It's mostly doctors, surgeons, teachers etc.

Well, if you have the connections then no, else yes.

Yes, most certainly... I think any education should seen from knowledge, information perspective.. So much one gets to learn. Ive seen more people inclined to learn or enroll into higher education as they gain experience. But as a counter argument experience always weighs more than education. So both should be applied together.

As someone who's been a long-time advocate for self-education but decided to go back to university at age 28, I think the answer is quite nuanced. Some basics need to be covered: good communication, project management, learning how to learn, etc. Which, ironically, are often not covered that well in traditional higher education, but are still touched upon through group projects and such. Once the basics are covered, there are many kinds of roles where you'll learn much better on your own and on the job than you would by going to university. This is especially true of fast-changing areas like web development and online marketing. I think anyone who's motivated can do these jobs very well by using a combination of online courses and having a good manager that can provide mentorship. But there are some kinds of jobs where you still do need formal tutoring and access to specific resources through higher education. That includes any kind of job that relates to people's health and safety, such as medical staff, but also jobs where you need to be trained with specialist equipment that you may not have available at home. That's why I went back to school to study neuroscience – no way I could afford an MRI scanner and put it in my living room! So, it depends on the kind of role you're looking at. In many cases, higher education is not only unnecessary, but is a bad choice when you consider the opportunity costs.

Depends on the domain I would say. Relevant for someone who is interested in highly specialised fields. Also helps you build a solid network

No. Particularly around an MBA. I signed up at my university and started my first semester. I really found the financial course helpful but totally lost interest as soon as I was asked to write a business plan. In todays environment we build pitch decks and one pagers not 30-50 page business plans. So is it necessary - absolutely not hit up edx, udemy and others to learn what you need.

I would say constant learning is necessary these days!

In any field, I believe there is enough knowledge on the internet that each person with dedication and motivation can become an expert in their chosen field. However, formal education gives credentials and proof that the person passed specific lessons. Moreover, people learn to be disciplined with formal education, which might be an asset later. Also, formal education gives a roadmap of what a person should learn to have working knowledge in the field. If a person can have the discipline to be a self-learner, hold themselves accountable and create a roadmap for themselves, they can have the same, if not more, knowledge in a specific field.

I think there's a great need for vocational (job specific) training. If you go to college you gain knowledge, theory and critical thinking skills. Vocation training provides a bit of that, but instead focuses on practical, actionable skill acquisition which can get you a job in a few months. And often times these jobs pay more than traditional careers you might get if you did complete college. Excluding of course things like medicine, law, aerospace engineering, etc :)