We currently see a lot of “reforming” in our higher education here in Denmark. There are likely many reasons for this, one being that it’s one of the areas that

We currently see a lot of “reforming” in our higher education here in Denmark. There are likely many reasons for this, one being that it’s one of the areas that’s relatively “free” for politicians to do something with in that there won’t be a public backlash, but obviously they’re mainly doing it because they believe in the stuff they do. What I’ve always found a little tragically comic (I’m not sure what the English description for “tragikomisk” it is, I have a non classical STEM degree after all) about it is how reactive it always is. They’re focusing on STEM education and cutting the “softer” stuff. Exactly because of some cost/benefit analysis as you point out and this time they are even shortening the length it takes to get the post bachelor degrees. They’re doing it because there is a demand for educated STEM people, and they want more young people to get a desired degree faster. What I find “comical” about it though is that I’m old enough to remember when China first started to become a economic superpower and there suddenly was an extreme demand for people who had studied Chinese. Again, sort of reacting to this, the politicians exploded the funding for Chinese resulting in a bunch of people who 5-10 years later couldn’t find jobs because China had filled the gap with English speaking translators. If our politicians are constantly adjusting our higher education to what has been in demand for the previous 5 years, then we’re always going to be educating the wrong people. Even if you think the focus on STEM is a good idea, and it probably is, what we need right now are mathematicians and not the “softer” IT educations we needed 5 years ago. Meaning even though our government focused heavily on meeting the IT demands that blew up when the digitalisation really sped up in Denmark 10 years ago, we now find ourselves in a world where we severely lack people with an education that can be used for AI/ML because those lines weren’t the STEM educations that were focused on 5-10 years ago. I get the want to meddle, but I do wonder if maybe leaving higher education to the universities (and the students) wasn’t the better option as none of us can predict the future. At least not outside how we’re likely going to need more or whatever they de-prioritise. This is the first time they’ve shortened the higher education though. I wonder how that will work out. There is a demand for more of what we are making now, but is giving more people a worse education faster really going to meet that demand? Or are we just fucking over a few generations before we realise the mistake?