What I think is clear from this thread is those who have never been to university don't appreciate the immense educational, social, psychological and motivational benefits of going to university - aviation course or non-aviation course.
What
I think is clear from this thread is that those who have been to university overappreciate the value of going to university.
To anyone justifying three years of study for a "backup" please read my previous reply. As Mr Hat mentioned, if you don't keep your other skill set current it wont be much use to you.
Seabreeze
A reasonable degree (of any sort) will give a foundation on which to build further knowledge and expertise, and to learn more advanced techniques. This development process should go on for life. A Degree (or any other qualification) is just a starting point of professional development, not the end point.
There is no reason a person without a degree can't learn techniques, but that would depend very much on the complexity of the techniques, and the ability of that person to learn in a work environment where the emphasis is to get the immediate job done quickly. For example, optimisation is best learned though a set of structured university courses rather than dabbling in canned software while working full time.
Self-serving intellectual snobbery! Backed up with a flawed argument which is itself backed up with a completely inane example.
Nkand:
All I have to say is why do the Qantas cadetship, Jetstar (partially because it isnt actually a degree, its an associates) make their cadets do degrees ? I wonder.. thats a hard one to figure out
Do they? Or is it that they get their students from providers like OAA who as part of their package include the Swinburne course? Best not to confuse cause and effect here. Why then do Qantas and J* DEFO's require HSC and not a tertiary qualification?
Clearly its valued and will continue to be an upward trend.
Clearly this is your opinion only.
Look at the Qantaslink traineeship criteria- Tertiary education/degree is a highly desirable component.
Highly desirable doesn't mean mandatory! Surely you've passed HSC/VCE English? Is your comprehension lacking?
And the funniest quote of all:
I can tell you of two guys I know one who had a degree (was in Aviation) and one who didnt and both with the same experience- and the one with the degree got into the traineeship
To say that the degree made the difference here shows that you've a fundamental misunderstanding on how a recruitment process works.
DIVOSH!
P.S. But no, listen to these guys (Nkand, Jieunni, b_sta, etc), spend extra time and money doing a course which may well have a negative impact on your flying career.