Vocational Courses & Colleges - Advantages & Disadvantages

Vocational Courses & Colleges - Advantages & Disadvantages

Union Cabinet recently approved MoUs between Australia and India and Australia, deepening the bilateral relationships in the educational sector. This new MoU is finalized so as to boost the education, research and training activities between Australia and India. It also intends to support the vocational education and technical education sector. However, the recent census data shows that enrollment in vocational education has just surged 3% to 5% from 2001. So, do you support vocational courses/colleges?

Advantages

• Vocational schools impart direct skills that help largely to build a career. The students can apply for a job in the specific field as early as six months.

• Most vocational school or colleges just require high schools completion and basic knowledge of Math and English. The students don’t need to have top grades.

• Vocational courses can be taken online, which supports convenience and easy learning process. The students can pursue their education along with their jobs. It saves times and transportation costs.

• The programs offered in vocational colleges are much shorter and less expensive. Moreover, as long as these colleges are accredited, students have access to easy loans.

Disadvantages

• The biggest drawback in choosing a vocational college is that the credits are not as prestigious as that of traditional colleges. Moreover, they may not be considered as prerequisites if a person desires to attend a regular college later.

• Since vocational schools focus on hands on training and typically they have minimum academic work, the courses are not seen academically on par as compared with traditional colleges.

• A disadvantage to vocational education is the low score when it comes to job competition against applicants having a traditional college degree.

• Vocational college education students enter career fields faster compared to traditional college counterparts.
However, many of these jobs are of lower-paying positions.

• Despite the low costs associated with vocational schools, technical programs may have higher program-related costs. The students may need to spend huge amount of money on tools and equipment and also on workshops and materials during the program.

Conclusion

The drawback of vocational courses is the limited flexibility they offer to students. If an individual joins a diesel/auto mechanic course and realize halfway it is not what he wants, the money and time invested largely goes to waste. On the other side, an individual who starts with a four-year regular course can opt for general requirements at first, while exploring available options to choose a degree program. A career-focused degree includes an array of experiences and classes which better prepare students for diverse career options.