ERIC Number: EJ1335068
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-May
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0010-4086
EISSN: N/A
"Get Two Degrees for the Price of One": Career Orientations and Choices of Double-Degree Students
Pineda, Pedro; Celis, Jorge; Anzelín, Ingrid
Comparative Education Review, v66 n2 p342-364 May 2022
Double degrees have been identified in universities around the globe. The Colombian double degree is a local hybrid of the American double major and the local profession-enabling "pregrado" that universities, particularly elite private ones, marketize in a context of mass higher education, devaluation of first university degrees and a weak economy ensuing from social conflict. Through a narrative approach, we found that students learn to pursue two degrees to maximize their investment in education, seek future job security, reduce their angst about survival given the low value of university credentials, and gain recognition from peers and family members. Choosing two degrees also maximizes their opportunities for preparing themselves to serve others, allows them to pursue intellectual development, and to satisfy their curiosity. The main trend found is that of students led by a consumerist orientation privileged over an educational rationale. We argue that the superimposition of consumerist orientations over self-cultivation motives may occur in the context of implementation of new programs such as double degrees, implemented by universities under a market logic.
Descriptors: Career Planning, Career Choice, Majors (Students), Foreign Countries, Student Attitudes, Decision Making, Individual Development
University of Chicago Press. Journals Division, P.O. Box 37005, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel: 877-705-1878; Tel: 773-753-3347; Fax: 877-705-1879; Fax: 773-753-0811; e-mail: subscriptions@press.uchicago.edu; Web site: http://www.press.uchicago.edu
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Colombia
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A