"De-skilling" of college graduates

[jpdm]

Philippine Star
'50% flunk nurse exam every year'

By Mayen Jaymalin
Updated November 17, 2008 12:00 AM
Half of nursing graduates flunk the nursing licensure examination every year, according to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
Marco Sto. Tomas, PRC Board of Nursing member, said the passing rate in the nursing licensure examination has been on the decline in the past decade.


“The number of board examinees is on the rise since year 2000, but the passing rate exhibited a declining trend from a high of 55.8 percent in 1998 to a low of 45.2 percent in 2006 or an annual average of 49.5 percent,” he said.



“One out of every five nursing schools registers a zero passing mark, which is indicative of the questionable quality of education and/or decreasing quality of students admitted for the nursing profession,” he said.
In June 2008, the passing rate 43.1 percent was lower than the average registered for the period 1998-2007, he added.


Sto. Tomas said based on government figures, the country has 480,992 licensed nurses out of the 523,272 who passed the nursing board examination between 1952 and the present.


“Not because they were not employed in hospitals, they are already jobless because many registered nurses are opting to work in other companies like call centers,” he said.


[SIZE=3]Actually, there is a surplus of nurses because of a market slowdown since 2006 due mainly to the retrogression in the United States, he added.[/SIZE]


Sto. Tomas said enrollees in nursing schools have ballooned from 27,833 in academic year 2000-2001 to a record high of 453,896 in academic year 2006-2007, or an annual average growth rate of 62 percent.


Sto. Tomas said the country’s health care delivery system is not experiencing a vacuum even if more experienced nurses go abroad. “Most nurses locally employed are new graduates who lack experience and skills which poses serious implications on the quality of health care provided our own countrymen,” he said.

What will this people do?

[True Faith]

Again, they can work in call centers...

Or medical representatives...

These jobs pay well naman....

[donbuggy]

In Focus - Not Where They Hoped They'd Be - The Atlantic

Reuters recently assigned a number of photographers to capture images of a struggling generation. The result is this series of portraits of graduates from around the world who have been unable to find work in their degree fields and have ended up in poorly paid service industry jobs. Although their current positions may be disappointing, the subjects in these photos may count themselves lucky to have any job at all...