Understanding Meritocracy/Value Amongst Differing Programs Of Study Within The University Of Toronto Literature Review Samples

Research Statement

Higher education has university acted as the basis of evaluation and recruitment into the job market. From this perspective, the degree that one chooses to pursue determines their market value within the labor sector. In this sense, certain degree courses are termed to have a higher value than others do. The period to cover the different courses may be equal but the situation after graduation is different. Employers have shown this by highly rewarding individuals who graduate with certain degree courses as compared to how they reward other individuals. For this reason, this survey is intended to unveil the value among different degree courses of study at the University of Toronto based on the hiring practices and the requirements made by the employers for the different department members.
Prior to joining the University of Toronto, students seek guidance on which course to pursue. The University of Toronto provides a variety of courses, which may suit the student’s interests. The role of the university remains at providing quality education regardless of the course selected by the students. As such, the university works with the notion that a higher learning course needs to be selected by the student after undergoing an evaluation of their understanding in different subjects. Therefore, the university maintains its role in encouraging the students to evaluate their career ambitions and to select a course, which relates to these careers. Understanding the value of a study program is at the interest of learners because they seek to understand how the time spent studying may be rewarded in the labor market. Additionally, before joining a study program, learners seek to clarify all the details about the program to be sure of the opportunities that the course offers them in the future. Some learners also intend to combine different study courses in order to attain higher value than their counterparts who take a single study course. Therefore, understanding the value of different study courses at the disposal of learner’s present them a chance of making better-informed choices when deciding about career paths and the combination of study courses. All these choices are made for the betterment of the study period and the life after the completion of the study. For this reason, the question involving the value of a study program is always a priority for the learners. Knowing the value of a course of study is preferred among many learners in order to prepare for the period of study. Research question: what is the value of different degree courses at the University of Toronto?

Literature Review

It has been widely perceived that the college entered by an individual and its ranking on the global institute rank affects the job reception rate for candidates. However, recent research indicates that the course selected by the learner and the career path they take are equally important points. The findings indicate that individuals may spend the same time in the same college but end up at different paths, earning different wages. The issue comes to the degree value. In addition, many individuals perceive that education will help them in bridging the economic gap that exists and thus changing their status quo (Giambona, Vassallo, & Vassiliadis, 2011). However, recent research also proves that the expectation of a better economic status is not achieved by simply enrolling in universities and attaining a degree. However, the program that one chooses also determines their ability to change their economic status due to the value awarded to different education programs by the job market. Therefore, the hiring mechanism employed by different employers implies that different degree or higher learning programs have difference in value at the workplace and job market at large.
Although it has been identified that the education program chosen has value, the value is only obtained through the delivery mode. For example, an accountancy degree may have different values depending on the institution where an individual obtained it. The value will increase as per the mode of delivery for the degree course and the score obtained through efficient and productive evaluation. The evaluation considers that the collection of education, service activities in the delivery process and the research put into the process determines the value. A higher value is obtained in institutions where efficiency is emphasized in the mode of delivery. Therefore, the preparation process under which the learners are taken through prior to being awarded the certification or recognition they also deserve adds value to the course (Hess, 2004). The researchers who intend to understand the value of the study programs calculate the value from this approach. The harmonic sum obtained after considering the input and output of the system or institution is used to record the value of the system. As stated in the other researches, the value of education or the study program is calculated by the economic returns and value from the job.
The previous research identified has analyzed the value of education based on the economic value obtained from the program after. The inequality in value of the education program arises from the process of higher education admissions. The admissions process is barred with inequality, which means that individuals do not get to take their preferred study program. Different universities make the entry process to certain high value degree programs hard, and the inequality means that only a few individuals get to go through the desired course (Khaneghah, Zolfalizadeh, & Barough, 2011). The entry difficulty makes the notion on value to persist not only among the employers, but also among the students who take up different courses. Once a learner is unable to take a certain course or to be admitted in the workplace with a particular course, they perceive that it has a higher value than the alternative courses.
Courses such as education and teaching have suffered due to the high admission rates and low inequality levels. It is quite easy to join the study program for a degree in education. In this perspective, most learners will consider teaching and education as low-value programs due to the entry process and the returns earned. Leveling the value of different education programs is a challenge due to the contribution by different individuals in adding value to specific learning programs while devaluing others. The outcome of this valuation and devaluation process is the meritocracy of all programs (Torch, 2012). Fairness should be the guiding principle in all learning programs especially because the learners are expected to go through the program over the same duration. All participants should value education and the different programs to ensure that they are not evaluated based on economic returns. The analysis of economic returns per course of study may be misleading on the effort put in by learners.

References

Giambona, F., Vassallo, E., & Vassiliadis, E. (2011). Educational systems efficiency in European Union countries. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 108-122.
Hess, F. (2004). Teacher pay, teacher quality. Policy Review, 124(1), 34-6398.
Khaneghah, G., Zolfalizadeh, M., & Barough, R. (2011). Evaluation of Accounting Educational Departments Efficiency.
Torch, F. (2012). The Meritocracy Machine Hiccups. Wilson Quarterly, 312(2).