Challenges to higher education in the knowledge economy: anti-intellectualism, materialism and employability

In knowledge-based societies, the importance of higher education in facilitating employability is generally recognised. For universities, a key challenge is how to identify the proper balance of specific knowledge (ie, the knowledge specifically needed for a particular task) and generic knowledge (ie, general skills and capabilities) that are conducive to employability. Today, universities face the challenge of anti-intellectualism, a negative attitude towards the “life of the mind”, characterised by a relatively low level of interest theoretical content and critical and analytic thinking. Relying on a questionnaire-based survey of 945 students, the paper discusses the influence of three employability factors on students’ anti-intellectualism in college and the subsequent impact on their overall satisfaction with college education. The findings show that students’ value of college-provided soft skills is low, raising the issue of the substantive impact of anti-intellectualism on their work integration and employability in the context of the knowledge economy.