Dream Factories: Why Universities Won't Solve the Youth Jobs Crisis - Paperback

by Ken S. Coates (Author), Bill Morrison (Author)

Two professors look at the mystique around universities and the consequences of "credentialism."

For decades, we have promoted the idea that a university degree is a passport to future career success. Ken Coates and Bill Morrison argue that the over-promotion of higher education and university degrees is actually undermining the lives of young people, saddling them with enormous debts, and costing governments huge amounts of money.

As the young flock to universities in ever-increasing numbers, fewer of them than ever find the elusive "good jobs" that they are pursuing. In fact, many of those jobs no longer exist. We are in the midst of a youth employment crisis that is global in proportion, and we are facing serious misunderstandings about the unfolding career prospects for young adults entering a world of rapid technological change. Ken Coates and Bill Morrison explore the impacts of universities turning out graduates with the wrong skills, and the consequences of vanishing job opportunities.

Author Biography

Ken S. Coates is a prolific author whose titles include Canada's Colonies and Campus Confidential. He is currently a Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan. He lives in Saskatoon.

Bill Morrison was a professor and administrator at universities in Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia, and a visiting professor in the United States. Morrison has published fourteen books, twelve of them in collaboration with Ken Coates. He lives in Ladysmith, British Columbia.