The future of skills development

Higher education has long been seen as the golden ticket to success. With many companies insisting on university degrees for even entry-level positions, the perception that you can’t get anywhere without a tertiary education has become firmly entrenched. Unfortunately, the cost of university places it out of reach for most people in South Africa, and companies do not reflect that reality in the way they operate.

In the US, organisations are grappling with a similar situation. Soaring tuition costs, ballooning student debt, and questionable ROI are leading to a fundamental change in how the private sector approaches the skills it needs. The Average US university graduate is $250k in debt, resulting in $2 Trillion in student debt in the US. While this fiscal strain could be justified if it was ultimately growing the economy, experts estimate that 80% of those students have degrees that will add no value to their ability to earn a living, and there is limited opportunity to repay the debt.

Tech funds and venture capitalists have started changing the status-quo, focusing on training and internships to provide faster, more practical, and more affordable routes to meaningful careers. Many of these are accepting young people straight out of school, immediately placing them on viable career paths.

The self-learning revolution

Self-learning is breaking the university value proposition. Access to coding bootcamps, online academies, and peer-driven learning platforms is making it easier for people to learn new skills. Instead of three to six years of study, individuals can gain skills and income within months. With employers increasingly caring about skills and outputs, not diplomas, universities can no longer rely solely on credentials as their differentiator and will need to change how they operate.

This will take time, and may not even be necessary in the long-term as initiatives like MIP’s internship fill vital skills gaps. MIP has already trained hundreds of programmers, not only giving them hands-on, practical education, but also paid experience that builds both income and skills.

With no prerequisites other than showing an aptitude for logic, the success of MIP’s internship proves that a focused, training-driven approach is far more effective than the old way of doing things. Our interns start earning money from day one, and are immediately able to participate meaningfully in their work.

We are reimagining the future of talent development. Companies can get the skills they need immediately, and young people are learning that there is more than one way to succeed, and it doesn’t have to involve student loans and university degrees.