Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace. Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the cours

There is no consensus on what the main role is for a university. Some individual consider that the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace should be impart to students in priority while others figure out that all the knowledge, regardless of whether is useful to the employers, is necessary for the sake of the graduates and even the society.

The graduates who equip with excellent skills needed in the workplace can no doubtfully open the door to more employment opportunities. They are more competitive compared with the other students. Specifically, with the knowledge and skills, the graduates may adapt to their future jobs easily and finish their work efficiently as they have practiced before. To the employers, they might save lots of time in training the new employers, which can also save money for the companies to some extents. Therefore, teaching the graduates with the knowledge and skills at work seems to be a decent choice for universities.

By contrast, some opponents argue that a university would be well-advised to provide graduates with all the knowledge in terms of the wellbeing of those individuals. A well-rounded person might not just be regarded as an employee, but also a family member and a citizen in the society. Apart from knowledge and skills needed in the workplace, other knowledge such as living skills and social interpersonal skills is of vital importance in this respect. Moreover, it is one of the universities’ responsibility to mould the graduates with better characteristics. A sense of tolerance and perseverance is imperative to a human being in his or her whole life. And more often, employers seem to focus more on the employees’ characteristics than their working skills as skills can be trained in a short time but to reshape their characteristics is a long term effort.

From where I stand, the main function of a university is the knowledge itself without any hesitation. Even though it may be useless in the eyes of an employer, the graduates may profit from it later in their lives. In addition, it is significant to the graduates in their future development with the knowledge.