A number of years ago, I thought about doing a PhD and even chatted to a couple of potential supervisors. There were two issues that stopped me. Firstly, I wanted to do it on HE marketing and the literature at the time seemed way behind knowledge and practice in the field. Secondly, my primary motivation was that I just wanted to be called Dr. and I thought I would spend the four years writing a novel instead.
Of course I didn’t do that either and instead frittered away the time on pursuits that pay no LinkedIn dividends, like talking to my kids or kicking the footy or watching late night renovation shows.
I decided to stick with plain old ‘Mr’ for the meantime in the hope that I might snag an honorary degree one day for services to HE brochure writing, and this week I received some excellent news. I – and you – need wait no longer.
Instagram must have been listening to my deepest inner career objectives, because it brought me news that I can get an honorary doctorate with recognition for my many esteemed contributions to society, with no formal study. I responded to the ad (I love to mystery shop, I wasn’t serious at the beginning at least) and have since been assured that if I pay AUD $15,000 and provide my CV for evaluation, I may be eligible for an honorary doctorate in 45-60 days – with a guarantee of no formal study being involved.
It’s an international tertiary provider with a prestigious-sounding name that seems to be as legitimate as a 10 minute Google search can prove and it turns out, they are also offering the prospect of a 50% scholarship right now. So it’s really just $7,500, a wait for a couple of months and then sound the trumpets, arise Dr Tim? (I haven’t entered too deep into the fine print, so it may be a little more complicated, but that seems to be the general idea).
Notwithstanding the almost certain dissolution of my marriage should I make a successful purchase – given the years of toil that my nearest and dearest endured to get her testamur and puffy hat – this appears to be a bit of a bargain. But it’s not just international qualifications up for grabs. My Facebook feed also tells me that I can get a ‘qualification higher than a Bachelor degree’ (a grad dip) from an Australian tertiary provider, without study (I captured part of the ad in a screenshot below).
The provider offers to review your CV to see if you would be eligible for the qualification through RPL. The Google and Facebook reviews for the provider are strong, with dozens of testimonials from people who say they received qualifications through this pathway.
Future Campus does not suggest that qualifications are being awarded inappropriately by either provider. We instead were interested by the advertising and promotion for each program, which boldly promote the opportunity to achieve qualifications without any study.
Since the offer came up from a couple of different organisations in a month, and one was from an Australian provider, there seem to be a number of interesting points worthy of consideration over your morning coffee.
Some initial thoughts:
- Good, bad or just ugly? Most of us are familiar with the idea of studying for several years and demonstrating competence through exams or tests before receiving a qualification. Given the rise of commercial learning institutions, some high quality non-award courses, and opportunities for more sophisticated evaluation of RPL, is this sort of approach good, bad or just something that doesn’t sit easily alongside the traditional operational model of education institutions? I’ve got my own thoughts, just asking the questions.
- Will this be part of Jason Clare’s Accord vision? If four in every five Australian worker really will need a TAFE or university qualification to do their job by 2050, is this approach good news for the Education Minister’s Departmental minions? Certainly if there were effective ways to evaluate RPL and if that aligned with qualifications required, that could save an awful lot of training dollars. After all, the Accord’s forecasts say four in five Australians will need a uni or TAFE qualification; they don’t state that everyone has to study to get their testamurs. It would certainly be cheaper to fund RPL-based grad dips than pay for training from scratch. Which leads to the next question.
- How much RPL is too much? While I personally have a loyalty to the traditional idea of studying and passing assessments before receiving a qualification, some level of RPL sounds not just fair but also really attractive – and the uneven application of RPL by different providers has been an issue for years. This type of evaluation of knowledge gained on the job occurs in many sectors already and recognition of the value and efficacy of that knowledge seems fair where that can be effectively evaluated. If the award of qualifications to people without study becomes more commonplace, it will probably put pressure on expectations for greater RPL in other courses.
- What does this make your qualifications worth? Bold promotion of qualifications without study has potential implications in terms of public perceptions of the purpose and efficacy of tertiary providers. The emergence of opportunities to obtain a qualification without any study at all is an issue for the sector to grapple with. If this can occur with a grad dip, then why not a full Master degree?
I don’t have a spare $7,500 and if I did, it sadly wouldn’t be buying me the title of my dreams, but let’s just say I was stupidly well-off. Could my new qualification swing me a career change? If so, it would be a bargain.
Yes, yes I know about the difference between PhD and Honorary Doctorates and academic employment requirements and how they are enforced at some institutions, but if you’ve read this far you probably know I am simply trying to focus attention on the larger issue of tertiary qualifications and what they mean, because international education providers are surely beyond the reach of the new ATEC. Still, I’d settle for a Level D. Parking spot would be nice. You’ve got my email.
