The rotting state of undergraduate degrees

This is just gonna be a quick rant.

Credentialism has pretty much made it mandatory to get a degree as part of the process of finding a job, especially in tech. Combine that with the belief perpetuated, even post job market collapse, that software engineering is a profitable sector to be in, and the number of people flooding into Computer Science and Software Engineering undergraduates has ballooned. However, as their presence is the sole result of greed rather than curiosity, engagement seems to be at historic lows.

Even at a Russel Group university like Cardiff, only around 70% of students show up regularly at lectures. Even then, showing up and being engaged are two completely separate things. Every other week, a lecturer would assign a 30-minute task and ask for volunteers to present. Then begins the painfully long game of chicken. "Team 1", the lecturer calls out. Dead silence. Everyone looks around awkwardly. "Team 3". Again, nobody budges. "Team 8". This time, a traitor appears. He quietly points at his friends. "They're team 8", he'd says, nudging for them to take the fall as his team number is next on the list. The lecturer gestures to the stage. Nobody budges. Eventually the lecturer lets out a long sigh and gives up, moving on to the next topic. The whole atmosphere is honestly depressing. My group has lately taken to simply volunteering before the roll call for every task, just so we don't have to go through the whole painful process of herding cats. Perhaps the topic isn't interesting enough you say? No, this pattern of behavior extends even to guest lecturers on novel research.

While I am nowhere near an elitist, I will say that most people there should not be. In fact, the only reason there's still so many students in 3rd year is merely because the university cannot afford to lose more considering existing financial troubles.

I do wonder if the issue will resolve itself as software becomes a less attractive field and the river of greed flows elsewhere, or if dried up demand will simply cause universities to kill the course. Perhaps this problem simply doesn't exist at higher tier universities like Cambridge; it did feel like a great place while I did my internship there, though I interacted only with PHD researchers rather than undergrad.