How to update your degree

University education has a time stamp added to it. Before that date, you are but a student, and after that time, graduation,  you are, say a lawyer, an architect, an MD, an engineer, a computer scientist. But we all know that that is not true.  That this is arbitrary.  That learning is a lifelong endeavor. That there was nothing truly differentiating after that date.  Indeed, the same degrees require different amounts of time in different countries. And whatever degree you get it will lose validity over time.

So here is an idea. Universities should protect you from “degree obsolescence”.  How?  Well, universities are always asking money from alumni. Basically what they do is they promote reunions and ask for donations.  But how about doing something more productive with reunions? For example, when your 10th reunion comes up yes, you are hit with a request for donations, but you are also offered say a month long update of your degree. Something you can do after work, say from 5 to 8pm for a month or two.  With your university buddies. So graduates, after say 10 years of getting their medical degree,  would get a very good one month update of everything that has been developed in those 10 years in medicine. It would be like a software update, a firmware upgrade, an app update.   Universities would give you a lifetime guarantee of the value of your degree.  And you would likely be a happier donor.

(Photo credit: Ajira Blog)