Questionable qualifications ........

[Sporkin]

Has anyone Googled Sir Dr Erwin AC Ng?

[Wd40]

The real problem isn't just about foreigners with dubious papers/papers from degree mills. One should really question, why is IDA and the affected authorities defending the decision of the hiring manager? Questionable qualification issue is rife all over the world - even in USA and other first-world countries. So if I'm the stakeholder, my focus would be on the flawed process that allowed this to slip through the cracks. Are there not checks and such in place as part of the SOP? Where is accountability?

And if one is really good and worth his/her salt, s/he shouldn't have even considered a degree mill or dubious institutions in the first place.

Her bachelors degree is okay. It's only her MBA is from a university that also supposedly gives fake degrees. Will you discredit her bachelors degree for that? Lets say you did a bachelors degree from NUS and then you came across this site that offers MBA, very easy to obtain, just read a bit and pass some online test and you get the MBA degree. Will that make your NUS degree less valuable?

[the lynx]

The real problem isn't just about foreigners with dubious papers/papers from degree mills. One should really question, why is IDA and the affected authorities defending the decision of the hiring manager? Questionable qualification issue is rife all over the world - even in USA and other first-world countries. So if I'm the stakeholder, my focus would be on the flawed process that allowed this to slip through the cracks. Are there not checks and such in place as part of the SOP? Where is accountability?

And if one is really good and worth his/her salt, s/he shouldn't have even considered a degree mill or dubious institutions in the first place.

Her bachelors degree is okay. It's only her MBA is from a university that also supposedly gives fake degrees. Will you discredit her bachelors degree for that? Lets say you did a bachelors degree from NUS and then you came across this site that offers MBA, very easy to obtain, just read a bit and pass some online test and you get the MBA degree. Will that make your NUS degree less valuable?

You're focusing on the wrong thing. Let me repeat: And if one is really good and worth his/her salt, s/he shouldn't have even considered a degree mill or dubious institutions in the first place.

Why risk your portfolio and publicise that your supposed MBA is from a dubious source? Bad advertising.

Like I said, this person is just dime a dozen. I would be focusing on the hiring party instead.

[Wd40]

That's my choice. I feel like getting an MBA for bragging rights, so now I go and get one from a degree mill, am I going to get fired now? Lets talk from a legal perspective. If I apply for my next job, legally I am not supposed to hide my new MBA. So now if I mention my new MBA, you are saying that I should never get a job ever. Not even a dishwasher's job?

[maneo]

The real problem isn't just about foreigners with dubious papers/papers from degree mills. One should really question, why is IDA and the affected authorities defending the decision of the hiring manager? Questionable qualification issue is rife all over the world - even in USA and other first-world countries. So if I'm the stakeholder, my focus would be on the flawed process that allowed this to slip through the cracks. Are there not checks and such in place as part of the SOP? Where is accountability?

And if one is really good and worth his/her salt, s/he shouldn't have even considered a degree mill or dubious institutions in the first place.

Her bachelors degree is okay. It's only her MBA is from a university that also supposedly gives fake degrees. Will you discredit her bachelors degree for that? Lets say you did a bachelors degree from NUS and then you came across this site that offers MBA, very easy to obtain, just read a bit and pass some online test and you get the MBA degree. Will that make your NUS degree less valuable?

You're focusing on the wrong thing. Let me repeat: And if one is really good and worth his/her salt, s/he shouldn't have even considered a degree mill or dubious institutions in the first place.

Why risk your portfolio and publicise that your supposed MBA is from a dubious source? Bad advertising.

Like I said, this person is just dime a dozen. I would be focusing on the hiring party instead.

When a person has 14 years of experience, where they obtained their degree 13 years before (or even the one 6 years before) is no longer relevant, and I doubt that people with 14 years of mostly ERP experience are a "dime a dozen."

In fact, there is a trend in higher education now where the knowledge previously presumed to be obtainable only by attending distinguished institutions of higher learning can now be obtained online.
While some of the early online education providers may have been dubious, there now are legitimate online education sources available to those for whom the knowledge and education is more important than the degree (e.g. Coursera).

[the lynx]

I didn't know it is illegal to hide your MBA for job interviews.

[Wd40]

I think it will count as concealing information, I remember reading it on MoM forms.

[Barnsley]

This has certainly got the the online citizens concerned.

However having read a few postings , it would appear that folks graduating from NUS or NTU should be gauranteed a job for life and its they who decide where they will work and not the prospective employer

Some were also griping that Diploma holders could get promoted in the Civil Service above someone with a degree..... What kind of thinking is this?

I thought the matra here was meritocracy, which in my mind means the best person for the job gets the job?

Its very interesting to read folks views

[Wd40]

There is some merit in what these guys are talking for example they have mentioned that the local polytechnics are of higher standards than some of the overseas universities and employers hence shouldn't turn down local diploma holders over overseas degree holders, based on only qualifications. If employers are doing that then that is wrong. Other than that picking on someone on the basis of the brand of their university is wrong.

[Barnsley]

There is some merit in what these guys are talking for example they have mentioned that the local polytechnics are of higher standards than some of the overseas universities and employers hence shouldn't turn down local diploma holders over overseas degree holders, based on only qualifications. If employers are doing that then that is wrong. Other than that picking on someone on the basis of the brand of their university is wrong.

So what about folks that were unable to attend these "superior" institutions , what should they do?

If they are offered a job , ask the employed to consider someone from these "superior" educational establishments first?

The education is only a means to get a foot in the door for interview, if you cannot perform in interview then thats your problem.

[ecureilx]

I think it will count as concealing information, I remember reading it on MoM forms.

Not so

You are expected to submit your highest qualification but you can skip it if your next qualification is more valuable

The point here is lack of integrity, if you have "purchased" an MBA, why you want to hide it unless you know it was a purchased MBA

[ecureilx]

Her bachelors degree is okay. It's only her MBA is from a university that also supposedly gives fake degrees.

Supposedly ?

It's a well known degree mill, where you buy your preferred degree

[Wd40]

I think it will count as concealing information, I remember reading it on MoM forms.

Not so

You are expected to submit your highest qualification but you can skip it if your next qualification is more valuable

The point here is lack of integrity, if you have "purchased" an MBA, why you want to hide it unless you know it was a purchased MBA

Why would you purchase an MBA if you want to hide it?

Besides have you seen her Linked in Profile?
https://sg.linkedin.com/in/nishapkp

She got that MBA degree mid career, no idea why and no idea how, but just look at her career. She is a techie and application consultant and she was doing well before that degree and the degree doesn't seems to have added anything to her career.

[x9200]

For many people tertiary education is worthless, and in fact a delay on them productively entering the workforce and building their lives. Presumably Bill Gates concluded similarly when he dropped out of Harvard.

So how many people who dropped their tertiary education became Gates', Jobs' and few others? Is it a significant fraction? Such examples only prove that without tertiary education people can succeed in whatever they want to succeed. It does not prove the education is something useless for the majority. The obvious truth is, this majority will not become the Gates' and the Jobs' regardless what they are going to do with their education. For that unfortunately rather large fraction, the eduction can still provide some basics necessary for their professional area. The education is all about the masses, daily crowds of average Joes. It is never about exceptional individuals who are talented and intelligent and persistent enough to find their own ways.

[x9200]

In an NPR article a software company that works with hospitals found "zero statistically significant correlation between a college degree or a master's degree and success as a software developer."
Over 80% of those hired will have a degree, but those hired without a degree will be just as successful, if not more so.

This is because an average software developer's job is like the job of a car mechanic - there is a little freedom to apply any profound, academic knowledge to what they do. They are limited by tools and platforms.
But is it really the same for majority of the post-tertiary education jobs?