By Dr Anand Wadadekar
In recent months, a growing narrative has emerged across media platforms, conferences, podcasts, and social media.
We are hearing comments such as:
- “Degrees don’t matter. We don’t want degrees mentioned on resumes”
- “MBAs are no longer relevant and ones doing it are idiots.”
- “Engineering graduates are unemployable.”
- “Companies hire only for skills.”
- “The future belongs to skills, not qualifications.”
These comments are frequently made by successful entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors, and even policymakers now. While many of these statements are intended to highlight the importance of practical skills and employability, they often create a dangerous oversimplification.
The message being received or interpreted by millions of students and parents is very different:
“Education no longer matters.”
As an educator, learning and talent development expert, career coach, I believe this is one of the most concerning narratives emerging in the world of work today.
The issue is not whether skills are important. The issue is whether skills can exist without education.
The answer is simple. They cannot.
The Foundation Before the Building
Imagine constructing a skyscraper without laying a foundation or imagine attempting to become a surgeon without studying medicine or imagine trying to become a civil engineer without understanding mathematics, physics, and engineering principles or imagine expecting a professional athlete to perform without years of learning techniques, discipline, and fundamentals.
In every field, skills are built upon knowledge. Knowledge is built through learning and learning is strengthened through education. Skills represent the ability to apply knowledge effectively. Education provides the knowledge, context, structure, ethics, and discipline required for that application.
One cannot sustainably exist without the other.
Why Degrees Alone Are Not Enough
At the same time, it is important to acknowledge an uncomfortable truth.
Many educational institutions continue to operate using outdated models. Students often graduate with theoretical knowledge but limited exposure to real-world application. Employers frequently report skill gaps in communication, problem-solving, collaboration, critical thinking, digital literacy, and adaptability.
These concerns are real. However, identifying weaknesses in the education system should not lead us to conclude that education itself has no value.
If a building requires renovation, we do not demolish the foundation. We strengthen it.
The solution is not less education, the solution is better education.
What Employers Actually Look For
When organizations hire talent, they rarely evaluate a single factor. Employability is a combination of multiple elements:
Education: Provides foundational knowledge and conceptual understanding. Skills: Enable practical execution and application. Experience: Develops judgment and workplace effectiveness. Mindset: Determines adaptability, resilience, and willingness to learn. Character: Builds trust, ethics, accountability, and professionalism.
Successful professionals are rarely selected because of only one of these factors. They succeed because they combine them.
The Risk of Sending the Wrong Message
Young people today already face unprecedented uncertainty. Artificial Intelligence is transforming industries. Career paths are evolving rapidly. Job roles are changing faster than ever before.In such an environment, the last thing students need is confusion.
When influential voices repeatedly dismiss degrees and qualifications, many young learners may interpret this as permission to disengage from education altogether. This can have serious long-term consequences.
A generation that undervalues education may eventually discover that skills without strong foundations are difficult to sustain.
The world does not need less learning. It needs more learning. It needs deeper learning. It needs lifelong learning.
Moving Beyond the “Degrees vs Skills” Debate
Perhaps the greatest mistake we are making is framing this discussion as a competition.
Degrees versus skills; Education versus employability; Academia versus industry. These are false choices.
The future belongs to individuals who combine:
- Education with Skills
- Knowledge with Application
- Theory with Practice
- Intelligence with Emotional Intelligence
- Learning with Continuous Relearning
This is precisely why NFLIG advocates a holistic approach to growth and development. The future workforce will not be defined by qualifications alone. Nor will it be defined by skills alone. It will be defined by the ability to continuously learn, adapt, innovate, and create value.
A Call to Educators, Industry Leaders, Parents, and Policymakers
Instead of asking whether degrees matter, perhaps we should ask a better question: “How can we make education more meaningful, relevant, and impactful?”
Instead of discouraging education, let us strengthen it. Instead of creating divisions between learning and skills, let us integrate them. Instead of telling students that qualifications are useless, let us help them understand how education, skills, experience, and character work together to build successful careers.
Education is not the destination. It is the foundation. And every great career, enterprise, innovation, and achievement stands upon a strong foundation.
