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Our higher education system continues to be pushed by private foundations and a few governors in a bid to get more students to graduate to make our country rank high in terms of highest number of people with college degrees. Interestingly, the New York Times published a report that shows the effect of getting people to graduate just to reach a goal.

Some of the low-paying jobs in our country did not even require degrees a few years back, says the report that attracted thousands of comments from readers. The report quoted mostly graduates from for-profit colleges and Georgia based regional public universities. Despite many people staking for more high quality postsecondary credentials, there is no clear definition of what we mean by quality credentials.

Today, many of our higher education institutions have become extremely expensive job-training centers rather than offering apprentice programs and high quality training for those who are not suited for college.

If we look around, we can see that the newest college majors are the latest hot career fields as traditional colleges continue to train students. Certain academic courses are in huge demand, the said demand created by colleges, especially the four-year institutions. According to surveys conducted by the US Education Department, there has been a 21% growth in the number of academic programs offered by universities and colleges since the year 2000.

If you consider the new programs added of late in the last decade or so, you will find that most of them are in the fields of applied sciences/military technologies and health professions. There is a sure shot flight from sciences and arts to practical arts. Just a glance at the list of undergraduate programs offered by any of the colleges today will show you the latest trend that focuses on athletic training, sustainability, gaming, new media, sports management and homeland security.

As compared to 1968, there is a drastic drop in the number of degrees awarded in the fields of traditional science and arts such as biology, mathematics, English and so on to 26% in 2010. Today, credentials are offered in fields such as vocational training and occupational training that include communications, education and business. Today, most students prefer majoring in business.

According to a research conducted in 2006, first year students feel that they must major in subjects that will help them get a good job. This is one of the major reasons why narrowly tailored majors are added to the curriculum by most of the four-year colleges today.

The sad part is even though students major in fields they think will get them a good job, most of them remain jobless today. Colleges today shy away from being measured by the number of students who get good jobs.

Surveys conducted on top business executives however reveal that they seek workers who are adaptable, creative and have critical thinking and communication abilities. Our country most certainly needs graduates with high quality education.

The changing job scenario today has forced four-year colleges to adopt a flexible approach and offer co-op programs combined with liberal education. This they feel is the only way they can prepare graduates and equip them to land a job as early as possible.