Are Colleges Preparing Students for the Working World? [Infographic]

First things first: there’s an argument to be made that looking at college as nothing more than a way to get a good job is the absolute wrong way to look at college; that education is a worthy end in and of itself, and that college is a time to become a richer, more experienced human being, not a richer, more experienced potential employee.

But the fact remains that a significant portion — if not the majority — of the population sees college as an “investment.” Go ahead, just Google “Is college worth it?” and bask in the endless stream of thinkpieces on whether or not college is worth the money (that is, whether or not spending money on college will get you more money in the future).

Thinks are looking grim for the “college is a good investment” crowd these days: fewer than half of employers believe that college grads are prepared for entry-level work, and, according to an article from Slate, new grads have bleak lives ahead of them:

Today’s crop of new B.A.s are staring at roughly 8.5 percent unemployment, 16.8 percent underemployment. Close to half of those who land work won’t immediately find a job that requires their degree, and for those stuck in that situation, there are fewer “good” jobs to go around. 

The folks at Knod, a global learning network that focuses on experience-based education, offer a new infographic that tracks the ways in which colleges may be failing to prepare graduates for the workplace, which you can check out below. The message of Knod’s infographic: “Students should focus on gaining skills and experiences over just gaining a degree.”