Why your diploma no longer guarantees a doorstep

The humanities remain vital in a world obsessed with technical utility

For over a century now, a university degree has functioned as a social passport, and an emblem of literacy, discipline, and professional readiness. But this credential-centric model is now undergoing a seismic shift.

The phenomenon of credential collapse, where traditional degrees lose their monopoly as signals of competence, is not merely a market correction; it is a philosophical and structural reckoning. The erosion of degree primacy is driven by a convergence of forces. Major employers like Google, Apple, and IBM have publicly removed degree requirements for many roles, opting instead for demonstrable skills and project portfolios. Platforms such as GitHub, Kaggle, and Behance now serve as living resumes, where real-world contributions eclipse academic transcripts. This shift reflects a deeper epistemological turn: from institutional validation to experiential proof.

Bryan Caplan’s 2018 critique in ‘The Case Against Education’ argues that degrees often serve more as signals than as substantive learning tools. But the signal itself is being disrupted.

As the Boston Consulting Group notes, skills-based hires now enjoy promotion rates and tenure comparable to traditional graduates, challenging the assumption that degrees are predictive of workplace success.

This transformation is accelerated by the velocity of technological change. Static curricula struggle to keep pace with fields like AI, cybersecurity, and digital marketing. By the time students graduate, the tools they learned may be obsolete. Employers now demand currency, not pedigree. A coding degree or a certificate in generative AI offers more immediate relevance than many four-year degrees in computer science.

Yet this shift raises profound philosophical questions. What is the purpose of education? If learning is reduced to skill acquisition, we risk losing the formative dimensions of higher education, critical thinking, ethical reasoning, and civic literacy.

American philosopher Martha Nussbaum warns that sidelining the humanities in favour of technical training undermines the foundations of democratic citizenship. The liberal arts cultivate the capacity to reason about justice, history, and human complexity, skills that are not easily captured in a digital badge.

Moreover, the rise of self-curated learning portfolios may exacerbate inequality. Those with social capital, access to mentors, networks, and guidance will navigate the skills economy more effectively than those without. Without institutional scaffolding, education risks becoming a privilege of the self-directed elite. As the LinkedIn Global Green Skills Report (2023) shows, access to emerging skill pathways is unevenly distributed, with marginalised groups underrepresented in high-growth sectors.

Universities face an existential choice. They can either cling to the bundled model of knowledge, socialisation, and credentialing, or reimagine themselves as modular, lifelong learning hubs. This means integrating education platforms not as supplements but as strategic cores. It also means investing in immersive, interdisciplinary experiences that cannot be replicated online: labs, studios, fieldwork, and collaborative problem-solving.

The future of education lies in plurality. Degrees will not disappear, but they will coexist with micro-credentials, portfolios, and experiential transcripts. The challenge is to ensure that this ecosystem remains inclusive, intellectually rich, and democratically grounded.

The parchment is cracking, but what emerges next must be more than a patchwork of skills. It must be a new architecture of learning, one that honours both competence and conscience.

Debdulal Thakur is Professor and Dean, Vinayaka Mission’s School of Economics and Public Policy, Chennai.

(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)