Hong Kong universities are notoriously hard to enter, with only 18 percent of every year's cohort standing a chance to attain a coveted degree - the much desired passport to a hoped-for professional career. But is that all a university degree should be?

Looking at the curriculums of universities in the past shows a very different system, with a focus on the arts, theology, law, and medicine. Today, the popular courses are those believed to promise a "future" in business, engineering, communications, law, medicine. From the original university syllabus, only law and medicine are still accorded a prestigious status. A university is supposed to provide non-vocational education centering on learning and critical thinking. But strip away all the window dressing and what remains are textbooks telling students how to accomplish specific tasks in preparation for their future career - which, truth be told, isn't all that far away from vocational training.

In the words of a friend's supervisor at a top tier investment bank: "For what you're paid, we can hire 12 master's graduates in developing countries." (My friend, by the way, is a degree holder from one of Singapore's top universities.) Outsourcing is steadily cheapening the value of a degree, resulting in massive grade inflation. A degree is no longer enough - now everyone is studying for a master's to prove they are a cut above the rest. A master's degree should be seen as personal development, the first gate through to academia, rather than an extension of a degree. And without a degree, well, there is little chance of entering the upper echelons of a professional field and the matching pay package.

This is worrying, considering the median pay for fresh graduates in Hong Kong is HK$10,860.

We need to stop thinking solely in terms of paper qualifications. After all, returning to the statement my friend's supervisor made, what distinguishes the wheat from the chaff is the ability to "take initiative" and be an effective "problem solver", a critical, much sought-after skill that cannot be taught in school. More often than not, employees end up mired in an endless maze of red tape and bureaucracy. They then take the easy way out by acting according to protocol. What is learned in the classroom often proves to be inadequate for the real world, where a university education only provides the most basic of foundations. The onus is on employees to understand what, exactly, is required rather than acting as a glorified button pusher.

However, this is offset by how the notorious Asian education system works. Students are taught to believe that there is a right answer and to stick to "safe" options. With tutorial center advertisements plastered on billboards promising "A" grades, complete with cheat sheets, rote learning abounds. Even at university level, students choose safe and familiar topics when it is essay writing time. In my time as a university tutor, I have read countless pieces on "Whether or not Hong Kong should build an incinerator" - a topic I'm sure none of them feel particularly passionate about. I've challenged them to pick a topic they care for, but many will always pick the "safe" option. Needless to say, these students rarely top the class because there's little evidence of thought put into their work.

If this is how we are qualifying students as suitable for a higher education, it seems that there is a discrepancy between what is desired, what is needed and what is taught. I constantly hear complaints that graduates from Singapore and Hong Kong alike are lacking in critical thinking - one of the latest buzzwords in education and everywhere else. But what is critical thinking exactly? For me, I see it as evidence of thought and the ability to act as the situation demands in order to become an effective problem solver.

And that is why aptitude, attitude, passion and pride trump all when it comes to job hunting. What employers want to find is an employee who takes responsibility for projects without needing his or her hand to be held through all stages. To borrow the words of a friend: You don't get promoted by doing your job. You get promoted by proving to your bosses you can help them with their job, so your boss can focus on taking their boss' job.

Employers, it is time to give so-called lower-qualified candidates a chance to prove themselves - after all, they've been taken down a peg or two after having to overcome failures on the academic side, which makes them more determined to prove themselves.

For employees, remember that the scary thing is that as the world shrinks, so do job opportunities - especially in a world where Filipino graduates find jobs as domestic workers. If a competitive edge is not maintained, there is always someone out there willing to take your job for a lower wage.

(HK Edition 09/09/2015 page8)