well, compared to the Polish obsession with higher education this does make sense.
I will elaborate on the obsession - there is this cliche that no higher education means you are a nobody, you will never achieve anything and so on (to which i disagree) So parents are often obsessed with the fact that their kid should finish any studies. Literally. Private universities that teach you nothing are a plague.
Meanwhile a skilled carpenter or a renovation expert is hard to find and those that are good have schedules filled for the next 2 years just for laying tiles in the bathrooms.
Also there is a high chance that the staff at local macdonalds all hold a master title in something.
On the other hand - these private universities also often close, because it is known that students (their parents, probably) buy a degree. It is a question of demand-supply so I do not see it as a problem.
Kids are free to decide on their edu, in my world, provided they put their weight in and have the grades. And then, CFC or manual education here is a fab way to get independent and later on finance your studies, too.
I wouldn't discriminate whether my MacDo guy has a degree or not as long as the food is good and he is happy. But. The staff gets reduced due to dumb ordering terminals, so correct degrees make a lot of difference when there are lay-offs.
The obsession with higher education is indeed a worldwide thing as MusicChick mentioned. Only a few countries with developed economies, such as Switzerland, escape from this.
During the 2009 financial crisis it was a joke/meme all the higher degrees of Starbuck baristas.
From a self-centered point of view, it's a great thing the Swiss don't strive for university education. If they did, I simply wouldn't working here as university graduate from 3rd country. Foreigners would just be EU gardeners and cooks.
me neither. If you worked at McD you learn some other skills (as in any gastronomy) not to mention - patience. My point is, that even with higher education there is a problem with finding a job. The craze reminds me about the time when I was in the recrutiment commision for my university (aka I was the bloke who took in the papers) and 9 out of 10 diplomas were a notary copy, since the candidates went for the 'spray and pray' tactics when applying to universities. That was 20 years ago though.
The problem with that is, the bigger the percentage of the population who gets some form of "higher education" the less it's worth. The anglo-american world has solved this by establishing Ivy League unis and Oxbridge on the one, and worthless college and uni certificates on the other end.
The EU approach with their aim to get at least half an academic degree is just more of the same idiocy.
It would be less wasteful, and probably much more productive, to set reasonable limits instead, like 25% Matura quota (whatever the equivalent abroad my be), and downgrade foreign certificates accordingly. It is undeniable that only half the population can be above average (with a bell-curve distribution).
I can do a door or fix a car for you and I've never had an apprentice education.
Polish / Ukrainian handyman can do exactly same job coming out of much poorer country with less resources to get proper education as Swiss equivalents.
To avoid being a creek, read books, you will discover many new things.
The backbone of any industrially developed nation is people who have a decent degree and not some mediocre college-level education.