Advanced Degrees Bring Career Payoffs With Time

Do you need an advanced degree to pursue your career? Will it help you move up the ladder later?

The answer to those questions, according to a former University of Arkansas associate dean and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, often depends on your field.

Education and health care often require an advanced degree for the licensure an employee needs to take on more responsibility, expand leadership potential and increase earnings. Other fields such as engineering and business often base promotions on level of education in addition to experience and demonstrated high performance.

Many of these degrees are available in an online format from the U of A.

“People in leadership positions over time have identified graduate degrees as important to develop future leadership in their organizations,” said Ed Bengtson, who recently retired from the U of A as an associate dean of the Graduate School and International Education. “From my perspective, from the university’s point of view, this is very beneficial to increasing enrollment but also presents some challenges as we should create degrees that are attractive and accessible to those individuals and their employers.”

Online degree and certificate programs expand access for those people who want to advance their careers through higher education.

The attractiveness of a degree may depend on how quickly a student can obtain it, and affordability, Bengtson said. Working adults are interested in how they can access the degree without leaving their communities and jobs.

“In some cases, employers want to promote an individual at a certain time, and it can help that they are engaged in a program that culminates in a degree or graduate certificate that meets the need of the organization,” Bengtson said. “From an industry standpoint, they want to maintain an active and progressive workforce. In certain fields such as engineering, a master’s degree often means the person will come back with current knowledge of all the developments in that area of engineering. That’s where the value comes in. It’s the recognition that I, as the employer, can have employees gain access to the most current knowledge to advance the industry.”

 

Education Field

Bengtson was also an associate professor of educational leadership. The state of Arkansas requires school principals and superintendents as well as other members of a school leadership team to hold at least a master’s degree, after which they can apply for an administrator’s license. The Arkansas Department of Education offers three administrator licenses: building level, curriculum/program and district level.

An administrator wanting to move into a superintendent’s role must do more graduate work, such as an Educational Specialist degree or post-master’s certificate, and pass an exam. Internships are part of the process in each of these paths.

Requirements vary by state for education level and experience needed to become a school administrator. Skills such as communicating well and problem analysis are necessary in addition to the content knowledge focusing on educational leadership development, Bengtson said.

“We are in an era now where we can’t just say if we successfully graduate people with degrees that’s enough,” he said. “We have to produce people who also have the necessary skills to be top candidates for positions. It doesn’t matter which level of degree we’re talking about. We need to be in the business of broadening the perspective of what graduates look like when they walk across the stage at commencement. It’s more than completing coursework and doing well on a licensure exam. It’s how you work as a leader on a team, how you build collegial relationships, how you go about decision making in a moral, ethical, and responsible way.”

Every profession values employees who ask questions and find answers to those questions, Bengtson said, a skill that graduate education should focus on. Emphasis on problem-solving abilities may be the difference between the quality of college graduates when on the job market.

 

Payoff Ahead

Bengtson offered that, sometimes, the challenge is helping prospective students understand the payoff may come later in their careers, not right away.

"The fact that you now have that additional credential on your resume could be a big benefit down the road,” he said. “I often counseled graduate students and tried to make the younger ones understand, anything can happen in your lifetime. How are you building your portfolio so that, when an opportunity comes along, you’ll be able to pursue it?”

 

Online Option

Higher education institutions face the challenge of producing more graduates, Bengtson said, and offering online degrees is a piece of the answer. However, offering a degree or certificate online requires faculty and administrators who understand the unique characteristics of online teaching. For example, Bengtson offered the following:

“It can be pretty tough when we have high volume of online graduate students because of their need for interaction,” he said. “Online graduate students, even though they are often working professionals, need attachment, advising and open communication with the faculty they’re working with. Students want that interaction. They want to belong to the university community even if they never set foot on the campus.”

“The University of Arkansas online degree and certificate programs continue to focus on developing a student experience where online students feel they are a part of the Razorback community. Online student support and engagement are of utmost importance moving forward,” he said.

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