The education system, assessed

I hire here, so I have opinions formed by interviewing rather than by reading rankings.

The outstanding achievement

External independent testing. Before it, university admission ran on institutional entrance exams, and where those sit, discretion sits with them. The introduction of a standardised, externally marked, anonymised test changed who gets into university and on what basis, and it did so measurably and quickly.

Of all the reforms I have watched here, this one had the clearest and most immediate effect on the life chances of individual people. A capable student from a small town could now be admitted on a score rather than on connections.

The persistent weakness

Vocational education, and the status problem attached to it. Parents push children towards universities regardless of aptitude, universities expanded to absorb the demand, and a great many people hold degrees that did not qualify them for anything specific.

Meanwhile the trades that an economy actually runs on — welders, machine operators, electricians — are chronically short and taught on obsolete equipment.

What I find when interviewing

Strong fundamentals in mathematics and engineering, better than I expected when I arrived and better than the university rankings would suggest. Weaker practical experience, because the teaching equipment is old. Excellent self-teaching habits, particularly in anything software-related, where a great deal of the competence in this country was acquired outside any institution.

The pattern I look for is not the degree. It is what somebody did that nobody made them do.

What I see in interviews matches this piece exactly: the theoretical base is strong and the practical side is weak. A graduate solves a differential equation and does not know how to take a measurement on a site — both can be taught, and the second is not. When hiring I now treat that not as a deficiency but as the plan for the first six months.