02 Jun 2015

I have a Bachelor of Arts degree from one of the finest Universities in my home country. I’ve heard it all: “You’ll never get a job,” “What a waste of your money (and my parents),” and the proverbial, “When are you going back to school to get a real degree?”

Well, you know what, f*ck that.

Only I’m allowed to poke fun at myself for my choices. Liberal arts majors never get jobs, yes I get it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t know what I was doing. I wasn’t given an option after I graduated for your equivalent Year 12; I didn’t know there was a way outside of going to Uni and getting a degree. So, when I had to go, I chose a major I loved and would excel at.

My plans for life have changed dramatically since graduating and I am the better for it. I work for an amazing organisation and spend my days actually using the degree I earned at university, which I’ll admit is a rare find, but if I hadn’t gotten my BA I don’t think I’d be able to do what I do now.

Here’s the fun part about having already graduated: looking back on everyone who still has time left on their degrees. I’ll never regret my decision to go to University because I’m a firm believer that what I’ve done in my past is what’s led me to the here and now. But, there’s some news from the University of Sydney that’s going to affect a lot of students in a big way. One of the worst cold-hard facts about the education system is that it is a business. And businesses run on money.

The University of Sydney is planning to cut the number undergraduate degrees on offer as part of measures to compete with the University of Melbourne.

For some, this news won’t mean much. But, in the bigger picture of things, it means that if the University isn’t turning a great enough profit on the degrees it offers then those degrees are at risk for the chopping block.

Vice Chancellor Michael Spence, according to reports and confirmed by the University, stated “They are a huge expense to maintain” in reference to the University’s 122 currently offered undergraduate degrees.

Now, the University claims “[They] will be deciding in the best interests of the education of [their] students,” but the issue still arises that with this decision the University is paving a smaller road their students can choose to take. What am I saying? I’m saying the University is saving money by offering fewer options to their students which increases streamlining but has the potential to leave a lot of creative students behind in the bigger scheme of things.

The majors offered to Bachelor of Arts students aren’t the only ones with the potential to be slashed, but they are on the forefront.

The university also plans to address the fact that it’s a “breeding ground for privileged members of society,” with an imbalance of “old, white males” in position of power. Just as the above, there’s still no plan of action on how the university plans to fix these apparent issues, but we will toast our glass their approaching it head-on.