Barbelith Underground > Conversation > Oh dear. : A thread about things that tick you off quite a bit, and might even elicit a frown.

This is a quote taken from an email my manager sent to relevant parties at all the Higher Education providers in Sussex. The person quoted is an industry professional who works for a large and very well known firm.

"The portfolio clinic was an excellent idea and we went along hoping to discover some raw and undiscovered talent. However what we ended up discovering was both eye-opening and somewhat depressing. The general quality of people we saw was shockingly poor, and I don't think this was confined just to us. I spoke to at least three other companies who had similar experiences.
Of the 10 or so people we saw, only two of them would have been employable. Both these people had the raw talent, but lacked any practical or structured experience. As such, they would have required at least 6 months on the job training before they were able to do any significant commercial work.
Of the remaining individuals, it was clear that they hadn't been taught even the basic design fundamentals. They had no clue about colour, hierarchy or typography. Instead they had been taught to use specific tools which frankly, anybody with a modicum of computer knowledge could pick up in a few weeks. They also showed no understanding of commercial design, with the majority of their portfolios being dominated by artistic vanity pieces. I'm sure giving students a video camera and asking them to be creative is a great way of motivating them, but I'm baffled how a 2nd year multimedia student can have absolutely no understanding or experience of designing for the web.
I felt the whole experience was rather depressing and it left me worrying about the future of the industry."

Now imagine being a student on any of the courses implicated and reading that. I would be shocked and fucking appalled. Okay, employer engagement isn't the easiest of activities, so getting employers to talk about what they want and consequently designing courses in line with their needs can be a struggle, but having worked in a HE partnership project for two years I'm well aware that all too many HE providers / departments function as solipsistic island kingdoms blind to the comings and going of the rest of world. The result being that vocational courses are created without anyone bothering to speak with employers, and the students are the ones that suffer.

It fucking staggers me. Systemic bloody stupidity.