Lena Helińska
A seesaw between current job-market needs and future thinking
Being valuable on the job market matters and universities must not forget it, but higher education is not vocational training — it should give students the tools, data and experience to predict future developments and help shape the job market to come. It is a seesaw balancing current needs against solutions not yet invented. In law, a client wants a lawyer on top of current regulations, but also one who keeps learning and thinks structurally rather than freezing at the letter of the law. The research background and foundation-based thinking universities offer make better long-term professionals, even at the cost of some practicals. Programs without immediately profitable prospects can still offer valuable meta, research and analytical skills — but only if universities are completely honest and transparent about real job prospects.
It’s more a seesaw which tries to find a balance between the current needs of the job market and… solutions which have not been invented yet.