A changing world needs arts and social science graduates more than ever – just ask business leaders

• Behind the institutional veil, academic and administrative staff are quietly upping sticks for other, more secure working environments.
• The threat to the country’s research and development strategy from underfunded science departments is perhaps clearer.
• But the risks from losing more staff in the humanities and social sciences (where I work) are arguably less well appreciated.

Thinking critically

• If that sounds a little “ivory tower”, it is in fact a statutory obligation of tertiary institutions to be a “critic and conscience of society”.
• That is, to enable people to think for themselves, challenge received wisdoms and ask questions of those in positions of power.
• More practically, the attributes and dispositions imparted in the humanities and social sciences – the capacities to think critically, synthesise complex information and hold contradictory ideas in balance – are extremely useful in today’s rapidly changing labour market.

Business and the humanities

• And yet, the hard-headed world of business and commerce is increasingly aware of the value of just such an education.
• Maybe most famously in New Zealand, the highly successful international property developer Bob Jones has long expressed a preference for employing arts rather than business graduates.
• Read more:
  Starved of funds and vision, struggling universities put NZ’s entire research strategy at risk

No technical fixes

• Highly complex issues – the climate crisis, the emergence of artificial intelligence, disinformation and political extremism, race and gender prejudice, and social inequality – are not wholly amenable to technical fixes.
• And therefore each requires the sorts of practices cultivated in the arts disciplines: careful thought, calm deliberation and meaningful collaboration.
• Archaic assumptions about the “value” of the disciplines of the humanities and social sciences need to be put to rest.
• Filling a hole in this year’s budget may only mean the price we pay in years to come will be far larger.