Higher Education = Success?

Recently in Malaysia, some politicians raised questions about the validity of the higher

education that some ministers claimed to have, especially Degree obtained from distance

learning. They have used this issue as a political weapon to attack their enemies. This too

has brought me to wonder the validity of my Degree obtained years ago from Leicester

University’s MBA Distance Learning Course. Flashing back to those years, I remembered

taking all my exam at British Council Malaysia and my thesis was sent to United Kingdom for markings, so it should be the real thing. However, to verify further, I went looking for that piece of degree as I have no idea where it was stored. At last, I found that old certificate

with 20 years of history. Looking at it, I couldn’t find anything special, as it is only a piece of

ordinary thick paper with a seal on it. In order to further determine its authenticity, I logged

on to the University’s official website and requested for a replacement. Within a week, I

received it from United Kingdom and I was relieved. My wife made fun of this and

commented that I have nothing better to do.

The money, time and energy I spent to complete this master’s program is only for the

purpose of advancing to higher positions and to have a higher income in my career. After

graduating successfully, I can’t wait to tell my superior, hoping to be promoted or given a

pay raise. However, my superior was not impressed at all and that really made me puzzled.

At time, I already had 4 years working experience, this master’s degree should have been an added advantage to my career, but why didn’t my management show any sign of interest? After some in-depth reflection and analysis, I came to the conclusion that whatever I had learnt in the master’s program were just in the form of theories, and whether it’s going to benefit the company was an unknown fact to my bosses! Thus, I understood that if I want to succeed, my employer must succeed first. In other words, if I want to have a high income, my employer needs to have good performance and higher profits first. This is the law of business and how do I contribute my knowledge, talent and strength to increase the

company’s business and profit is the crucial key. Therefore I focused on applying what I had

learnt and worked extra mile to increase the performance of the company and within a

year, I was promoted, and my salary was increased.

Is “having a higher education” equivalent to “a guaranteed success”? Society nowadays tells us that by graduating from a top university’s guarantees a successful life and good income. Do you agree with that? From the perspective of a business operator, having a degree is only equivalent to having the key to success, it does not guarantee one to be successful. If we do not use this key to open the door to success, that door will never be opened. Acquiring knowledge is important but knowing how to apply the knowledge is crucial. Having knowledge is only the starting point, but to advance further with only your

knowledge is not enough. For a company, knowledge that doesn’t bring on an added values are worthless. Other than self-acquired knowledge and working hard, fresh graduates need a mentor who is willing to cultivate and appreciate them, a platform for them to express and exploit their potentials is also equally important. If high income and relaxing position are the only considering factors while looking for a job, one will end up losing the opportunities for growth, he/she could easily being trapped in the lower hierarchy and unable to attain greater skills and abilities to advance to higher management level.

Other than that, the “door to success” is different for every individual. Hence, we need to

know which “door to success” is suitable for us. This decision is not made by our parents or

friends, as we are the one who needs to make this decision with wisdom and courage.

Unfortunately, youngsters nowadays mostly not sure where is their “door to success”. Only

by recognizing this, the qualification one have will become the right key, or else we will

never be able to open the right door to success. We might achieve some successes in the

beginning and then stagnant in the latest part of our life.

To the youngsters and parents, let not be too taken away by the myth that high academic

qualifications guarantee high income and high rank positions. Success is determined by a lot of factors and hard works. For the youngsters who are on their starting point, it is important to understand yourself, set your long-term vision and direction right and seek a mentor and platform that would give you opportunities to grow in your career. By making the right decisions, you ensure you have open your door to lifelong success.