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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:

You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.

Write about the following topic:

Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace. Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the course is useful to an employer.

What, in your opinion, should be the main function of a university?

Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.

Write at least 250 words.

Sample Answer 1:
The primary purpose of tertiary education is to prepare graduates for their future career. While thousands of people would enrol for the sake of acquiring general knowledge and skills which will make them competitive in the job market, there is a portion of them who would expect to obtain the specific qualifications only for their dream job. Therefore, I strongly believe that university should organise their courses’ programs in order to provide future employees with all the skill sharpening professional training for their specific occupation.

One compelling reason for this is that all the contemporary occupations nowadays are task specific which makes it a necessity for workers to be able to comply with every job requirement. Once they graduate they are expected to take over all the responsibilities their job needs them to do, have the know-how, as well as the expertise to carry out all the arduous and demanding tasks. For instance, as soon as I graduated from the Faculty of Philology I had to take a part-time teaching job. I was overwhelmed with all the expectations my employer had in everyday practice, whereas there was no need at all of all the theory I had mastered throughout my studies.

On the other hand, it is beyond doubt that most of the jobs would require employees to do a lot of multi-tasking and to be capable of meeting deadlines while conducting project work. Apparently, big companies would prefer to employ a person well-equipped with all the necessary knowledge related to several positions within their range, instead of over-staffing. Notwithstanding the competitiveness among businesses, there is always a huge demand for the top notch professionals within one sector. This will be possible, only and only if universities raise their standards and provide broad education and practice for their students.

In conclusion, I would maintain that tertiary education should be more content-specific and ensure the fastest and highest quality for their graduates. Not only will professionals be able to use their university knowledge as a catalyst towards their career, but they will be able to make a living out of it for a lifetime.

[by - Emilija Malinova ]

Sample Answer 2:
Universities play a vital role in student’s education. There is a general belief that university provides the required ammunition for the students to get on with their career. However, it can also be argued that the university is another business model and should provide knowledge for its benefit. I think a university should service the society by creating better individuals than being money making organisation. The essay will analyse the individual and social benefits created by the university in support of its service to society.

Firstly, personality development is of paramount importance to any student. For instance, a student from a reputed university like the University of Technology, Sydney has good exposure to interpersonal skills, soft skills and theoretical knowledge. These skills are vital for students to perform well at the workplace. Additionally, these skills will get campus placements before they can complete their degree. Thus, colleges providing appropriate environment and skill development will result in the production of individuals with the required talent in the professional career.

Secondly, society benefits cannot be discounted in the context of university education. Creating individuals with better skills create a healthy society. For example, students completing their medicine degree with better communication and people skills create a society in which all the individuals who go to that doctor will be delighted. If all the people in the community possess the right level of expertise, especially the working professional with the college degree, then the country’s economy will have a positive growth. As you can see, there is a direct correlation between college infrastructure and the society health.

In conclusion, university providing quality knowledge and platform for all-round development will aid the individuals and society to benefit out of it. I believe that there will be an increase in the number of students who attend a university that results in the better society.

[by - Rajaganapathy ]

Sample Answer 3:
These days, universities provide various courses which were taught by families earlier like tile fixing to makeup techniques. In spite of making such arrangements for everyone to learn these skills, some exceptional people believe that universities teach subjects only rather than focusing on real world use.

First of all, universities have to focus on whole class instead of a bunch of students. So, universities have to come up with a course material which can be grasped by a majority of students. Employers do expect a specialised skill from an individual. However, it is an unrealistic expectation from the universities to prepare each student as per the employer's requirements. Moreover, it is difficult for a student also to imagine the need for the real world and learn the subject without experiencing it. For example, you ask a student to write a program to handle the security threats on servers. It could be very difficult for a student to write such a program as there are many viruses which target only certain types of servers.

Another important area where universities focus is to provide the basic knowledge of the entire subject and let the students choose the job of their interest. For instance, computer engineering course teaches about databases, programming languages as well as hardware. It is up to a student to choose whether he wants to be a programmer developer or a database designer. It is certainly beneficial for the employers as well. If a fresher knows many subjects, an employer can train him on any subject as per the project requirement. For example, Infosys hires thousands of computer engineers every year in place of a Java certified students. Infosys can train computer engineer for testing or support department. However, it is difficult to train a java developer for web designing.

I believe universities are just doing the best what they could do to prepare a student for the upcoming opportunities and challenges.

[by - Naaz ]

Sample Answer 4:
Currently, there are huge debates about the main purpose of educational institutions; such as their task should be to prepare students with knowledge and expertise for employer needs or prove graduates with access to the material for their own analysing. This essay will examine both sides of the argument and will highlight the most important task of universities.

There is no doubt that graduates must be prepared to go to the work having the knowledge and skills of the field where they plan to start work. These will improve the quality of graduates’ work and give a good impression to the employer. Also, business will be benefitted from their new employees and will allow to an organisation to survive in the rapidly developing business environment. For example, it is highly important to have the necessary knowledge to work as an accountant, otherwise, a person would not know what to do, how to perform the tasks with requirements which later will be checked by auditors. If the work was not done without necessary accuracy, the company will face many problems with the government and tax officers. Therefore, I firmly believe that it is highly important for universities to teach their students the knowledge and skills, which are essential to the business.

Despite these arguments, there is also a case for advocating that the main task of universities is to provide an access to the materials and other resources their students for their own learning and analysing. Indeed, I believe the access is extremely important, however, without teaching how appropriate to use these materials most of the students cannot do it in a proper way required by the employer. For instance, there are a lot of different examples of preparing financial statements, the way its look and only expert can say in which particular situations could be prepared, analysed and be used this way of preparation of financial statement or a different one as well as in what kind of area could be used.

Having considered both sides of the issue, I would argue that although universities should provide an access to knowledge for their students, educational institutions should teach how to use, learn and analyse them.

[by - Natalia Svetlova ]

Sample Answer 5:
In today's modern world, many students choose to go to university immediately after they finish school to acquire the knowledge and skills that are crucial in their future workplace. However, there are a handful of people who assert that the university should teach the students for its own sake without taking into considerations of whether it will benefit the employer. In my opinion, I think the major purpose of attending a university is to gain knowledge that is useful in our future jobs.

In these times of austerity, people are spending most of their adult life in working just to secure a decent job. Most of the organisations are, undoubtedly, will attract the talented and knowledgeable potential employees to work for them by offering a high salary. If a university is able to provide the students all the required knowledge and skills which play an indispensable role in their prospective jobs, it is, indirectly, opening up an avenue for them to get a well-paid job. As a result, they would benefit their family by supporting them financially. Thus, universities should teach their students about the knowledge that are required in their future careers so that they can secure a well-paid job.
In addition, most of the employers are looking at the academic qualifications which they believe will bring them advantages during the interviews of job applicants. If the graduates are equipped with the desired knowledge and skills in university, they are more likely to be successfully employed owing to the fact that they can handle most of their jobs well as compared to those who lack certain knowledge in the work field. Admittedly, it will help to lower the rate of unemployment which becomes more severe than before around the globe. Hence, it is proven that the graduates with high qualifications and knowledge required in a specific workplace will definitely get a higher chance of getting a higher position in an organisation.

In conclusion, if all the universities are providing their students with the knowledge and skills which are important in their future careers, the graduates can easily secure a decent job with a high paid in the twenty-first century. I believe that all the graduates will achieve their aspirations in their jobs if they are well-equipped with the required knowledge.

[by - Lee Wing Qeen ]

Sample Answer 6:
The main function of a university is debatable. Some people believe that it is necessarily important for a university to convey knowledge and skills to graduates which are relevant to their work field later. However, others argue that university should give access to knowledge for its own choice without regarding the impact on employer later. Personally, I believe that the essential role of a university is to provide students with basic knowledge and skills for their future career which will be elaborated trough the following paragraphs.

To begin with, a university is responsible to share knowledge to graduates which are relevant to the subject and their career later. Students who decide to be nurses and enrol in a nurse academy should be imposed abundant knowledge about nursing. This, somehow, will enhance their insight about nursing and make them understand about disease and proper treatment. For example, providing general knowledge about the rampant virus of Ebola can establish students' idea on how to recognise the symptoms of Ebola and how to ensure the proper treatment of the patients.

Furthermore, a university also immensely needs to boost graduates skill that will be matched with their future job. Knowledge must be accomplished by related skills to perform a better action in workplaces. Some universities support their graduates by various skills through various ways. For instance is university internship. A dentist student cannot be a good dentist if he is just supplied by knowledge about dental problems. Yet, he needs to gain skills of how to identify and recovery dental problem through direct practice in the internship. While doing practice, he will receive several skills of how to administer treatment on dental problem supporting his future career after graduation.

All in all, basic knowledge and skills should be granted to graduates to support their activity in their workplaces.

[by - Linda ]

Sample Answer 7:
It is believed that a university has the role to educate students and prepare them for the future. Each individual allows to pursuit their right to learn several of subjects relying on their goals. However, it is argued that the most important function of a college or university is to prepare learners for the job. In my view, a university should regard people eagerness in term of their future work. That is why the most valuable thing for a university is to create an environment for giving space for learners to develop their skills for their future job.

University has to spread awareness that becoming competent in school can affect students’ performance at workplaces. Even though the essential of learning in university is to pass exams, learners should realise that the real exam is after their completion of the study. They will experience how to combat with others for getting a decent job. Therefore, people who prepare earlier will gain more benefits. Based on this case, a university has the responsibility to create competitive circumstance such as in a workplace.
Again, preparing students for the future brings some challenges that the university has to accept. Such challenges involved more practical education rather than being confined to theoretical lessons. It is inevitable that practical lessons are more important and effective than the theory we learn in university.

Another reason is the best way to develop someone’s skill is by creating space for learners in term of their interest. Nonetheless, this is the main problem that learners face when they enter in higher education - they will lose their passion due to school curriculum which deters them to get involved in further on non-academic activities. As the result, university tends to limit students community to express and show their skill.

In conclusion, a university should understand that preparing students for workplaces is an indispensable part in this era. University may start by setting the lecture class such workplace environment for the case and providing beneficial programmes to enhance students’ skill as an individual or group.

[by - Waode Eti ]

Sample Answer 8:
Education is more important in the modern era than it was in the past and the percentage of students who complete their university education is rising significantly. Many people argue that university education should be aimed at better job prospects whereas others believe that prime objective of a university is to provide better knowledge. However, I believe that university education curriculum should be modified to include more professional training and courses to help students for their future career.

There is no doubt that university education is expensive. People mostly go to universities to ensure a demanding job and better career prospects. Obviously, there are other reasons for people to attend higher education but having a better career is the most dominating factor these days. If the students could have applied to any job after they complete their schools, I am sure the percentage of the university going students would have decreased dramatically.   

In my belief, universities should include workshops and practical sessions in their curriculum because the practical sessions are both job oriented and have greater effects on learning. For instance, those who go to the nursing courses have a specific goal in mind – to become a successful nurse. Similarly, if a medical student says that he is not studying to become a successful doctor, rather, to understand the human body and mind, we can take it as a possible lie.  So if the universities only provide theoretical knowledge, after graduation students will find it tough to apply the knowledge in their work field. Every government funded university costs a huge sum of money and the government has an aim for all the cost it bears –to make honest, skilled and better performing employees for the state. This single example reveals how important it is for universities to focus on creating future professionals with appropriate knowledge and skill set.  

In addition, unemployment is a severe problem worldwide these days and the number of unemployed graduates is a daunting issue. If the universities focus more on the career-oriented education, this problem would significantly decrease. Many organisations recruit talented and experienced individual and those sort of people have a better prospect of career development. Appointing fresher in jobs is burdensome for many companies because they need to train them for several months and overall output and productivity will decline during these periods. If the university education includes some courses related to job prospects, students can perform well immediately after their graduation.

On the other hand, some argue that university education should be for improving the knowledge level of students. Including workshop or job oriented courses will decline the value of education and it will increase the course duration. They opine that better education makes people to a have better adaptability and even though they require some initial training, they outperform others in the long run with their knowledge.

Taking everything into consideration, it can be summarised that university education should be aimed to help students to prepare for their career. Adding workshops and job-related courses will enhance their knowledge and they will perform well in the future. It is more beneficial for each individual and for the society.

[by - Kavery ]

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