Latest news with #mastersdegree
CNA
11-07-2025
- General
- CNA
Is a master's degree still worth it? Maybe not, say some recent graduates
For Mr Low, the former polytechnic lecturer, earning a master's degree was a personal milestone. "My late dad was a teacher. After O Levels, I went to ITE (Institute of Technical Education). Back then, being associated with ITE felt like the end – and for a parent who was an MOE teacher, it was a bit of a disappointment,' he said. Mr Low later went on to complete his polytechnic diploma and bachelor's degree. 'Sadly, my dad didn't live to see me pursue my master's. He passed away in April 2023 from liver cancer. I dedicate this achievement to him.' In CNA TODAY's conversations with other master's degree holders, many said they still believe in the value of the qualification, especially for those who want to stay up-to-date with changes in technology and how industries are evolving. Ms Wong Jian Hui, 39, a planning manager at Tower Transit Singapore, believes that with artificial intelligence, automation and sustainability reshaping businesses, a master's degree can provide the cross-industry knowledge needed to see the bigger picture and stay adaptable. "It's most useful for those who are curious, open to learning beyond their current scope and looking to stay relevant in a fast-evolving work environment," she said. She graduated with a master's in information technology in 2023, driven by a mix of curiosity and a desire to future-proof her career. Ms Janice Tay, 45, left her finance role after her son was diagnosed with global developmental delay – a condition where a child shows slower progress in multiple areas of development – and other learning needs, and started an early intervention centre in 2017. She said she had initially tried shorter courses and certificates, but they felt too piecemeal. Seeking a programme that connected child development, teaching strategies, and inclusive practices, she enrolled in a master's in special education in 2020. 'Without the master's, I might still have been able to start a centre, but I doubt I would have earned the same level of trust from professionals, government partners, or even families as quickly,' Ms Tay said. 'The master's wasn't a direct path to a higher salary in the traditional sense, since I transitioned from the corporate sector to founding a social enterprise. But it enabled me to build a sustainable business model that now supports a full-time team, allows us to reinvest in services, and continues to grow.' Then there is Mr Zhuang Changzhong, 34, a former litigator whose 2023 master's in information technology armed him with the technical skills to leap from the courtroom to a financial-sector role overseeing data privacy and regulatory compliance. 'Being a litigation lawyer, it would have been difficult to go in-house into a corporate role," he said. 'But the master's programme equipped me with the skills that allowed me to find my place in regulatory legal work. I would say it had a measurable impact, where I am able to contribute meaningfully even in a new role in a new industry.' Mr Imran Khan, 39, a communications educator, completed his second master's degree, in creative writing, in 2021. His first, an MBA, had enabled him to relocate from Dubai to Singapore in 2015. That MBA, which cost him about US$16,000, delivered a clear return on investment. 'I don't think moving to Singapore would have been possible without it,' he said. It opened doors to a new market, industry and roles, and he more than recouped the cost. After years of working in Singapore, he pursued the creative writing degree purely out of passion for the craft and the chance to connect with like-minded people. 'I went in knowing it wouldn't necessarily pay off financially. But I wanted to be intellectually stimulated, immerse myself in the local writing scene and meet people I wouldn't have otherwise connected with,' he said. While the monetary returns are 'debatable', he said that was not the reason he pursued creative writing. 'I had the opportunity, I could afford it, and I finally had the time. So I thought, why not? Let's fulfil this childhood dream I've always had. And I'm much happier for it.'
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Woman Walks Out of Her Own Graduation Dinner After Mother-in-Law Gives Speech Thanking Herself
A woman says her mother-in-law delivered a speech at her master's graduation dinner — and made it all about her In a post on Reddit, she writes that her husband's mom delivered "this long monologue about how proud she was that 'her guidance and emphasis on education' inspired me" Now, she wants to know if she overreacted by leaving the dinner earlyA wife and mother who recently got her master's degree was shocked when her mother-in-law delivered a speech at her graduation dinner — and made it all about her. In a post shared to Reddit, the anonymous 28-year-old woman writes that she recently completed her master's degree, "while juggling two part-time jobs and caring for my 3-year-old." "My husband (30M) and I have had a tough year, so this was a big moment for me. He planned a small dinner with family to celebrate. Sweet, right?" she adds. But when the woman's family and friends sat down at the dinner table, one guest remained standing — her mother-in-law. "My MIL (60s) stood up and tapped her glass like she was making a wedding toast," she writes in the post. "She went on this long monologue about how proud she was that 'her guidance and emphasis on education' inspired me. Then she said, 'She wouldn't be here if I hadn't raised such a hardworking son.' " Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. She continues: "I blinked. No mention of me, my work, my late nights, my sacrifices, just her and her son. My own parents weren't there because they live overseas, so I felt even more humiliated that the one moment meant to celebrate my achievement was hijacked." The woman adds that she then "quietly got up and left halfway through dessert." "My husband thinks I was rude and 'made it weird.' He said, 'she was just trying to honor you her way.' I said I'm done being treated like a supporting character in my own life," she writes. "Am I overreacting?" Reddit users don't seem to think so. "Why did you let her continue her speech? Just call her out right on the spot? Actually your husband needed to call his mother out on the spot," writes one. Adds another commenter: "She wasn't honoring you in her own way. She wasn't honoring you at all. Who is she to suggest that you wouldn't have been able to get your master's without marrying her son and having his baby? What kind of nonsense is that?" Read the original article on People
CBC
11-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Gen Z is facing the worst youth unemployment rate in decades. Here is how it's different
Graduation cap in hand, Sarah Chung is posing for photos in school regalia ahead of her convocation ceremony. The campus atmosphere is joyful, but what comes next is sobering: this honours student is graduating into one of the worst youth labour markets seen in decades. "It's bleak," said the 23-year-old graduate of the University of Calgary's media and communications program. She hasn't been able to find a job in her field and said she intends to pursue a master's degree. "I believe that it's tough just because of everything that's happening with the economy, with our society and with politics," she said. "There's a whole [lot] of talk about 'there's a recession coming.' I'm not an economist, but I can also see it as well." Chung is part of a generation facing Canada's highest youth unemployment rate in about a quarter-century. Apart from the pandemic, Canadians between the ages of 15 and 24 are facing the highest youth unemployment rate this country has seen since the mid-1990s, according to first quarter data from Statistics Canada. At that time, Jean Chrétien was Canada's prime minister, Gen Z was but a twinkle in their parents' eyes, and the global workforce had yet to be transformed by social media, gig work and artificial intelligence. Fast forward to 2025, and Canada's youngest workers are grappling with a perfect storm of economic conditions: an inflation crisis that came on the heels of a pandemic; a surge in population growth that has outpaced the number of available jobs; and now, a country teetering closer to recession as the U.S. trade war wreaks uncertainty on the economy. One expert says youth unemployment can be a "canary in the coal mine" that foreshadows broader troubles in the labour market. "It's kind of an early warning indicator," said Tricia Williams, director of research at Future Skills Centre, a Toronto Metropolitan University lab dedicated to studying the future of work. "It's not just about getting jobs and skills experience. It's about the larger structural supports and the environment that young people are coming into." Labour market whiplash The Canadian labour market has endured a kind of whiplash in recent years. After pandemic-era restrictions were lifted, companies celebrated with a hiring spree — the economy regained jobs it lost during the crisis and Canadian youth reaped the rewards of a summer job boom. But employers were soon struggling to find workers and fill postings, a result of the workforce having shrunk during the pandemic. The federal government and public policy experts prescribed higher immigration as an antidote to the shortage, which led to a rise in the Gen Z and millennial working population. Hiring sentiment "was really high coming out of the pandemic, which probably was never going to last," said Brendon Bernard, a senior economist at Indeed who closely follows youth labour market trends. As the hiring backlog cleared, other conditions started to slow the economy down, he added. The onset of a fierce inflation episode in mid-2021 triggered a domino effect: consumers pulled back on spending and the Bank of Canada began an aggressive interest rate hike cycle, leading businesses to delay hiring as economic confidence deteriorated. Older workers started working second jobs to pay the bills during the affordability crisis. Some experts suspect that the automation of routine tasks could be leading to fewer entry-level opportunities, but there isn't enough data to say how widespread this is. "As things have turned back and employer appetite has fallen back down to earth, the youth employment situation has weakened," said Bernard. 'It is disheartening' Youth unemployment started ticking back up in the spring of 2024. At the same time, the number of young people not in education, employment or training — an economic measure called the NEET rate — has risen among youth in their early 20s, mainly driven by non-students having trouble finding work. Bernard said there was some cautious optimism at the beginning of this year, when the labour market seemed to be stabilizing. But the Canadian economy has been rocked by U.S. trade war uncertainty since April, potentially stifling the hiring appetite as the overall unemployment rate rises. "It is disheartening," said Thivian Varnacumaaran, an electrical engineering student in his final year at York University who estimates that he's applied for 400 to 500 jobs — with no luck — since he started searching in December. "I wouldn't say I'm pessimistic, but I'm really realistic about the situation," the 25-year-old added. Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist at trade association Alberta Central, says the economy is now "sluggish" even without having breached recession territory. He expects more signs of deterioration in the coming months, and noted that young people will likely bear the brunt of those conditions. "Often businesses do what I would call the 'last in, first out' type of strategy when they reduce headcount," said St-Arnaud. "The younger population that has been just hired are more at risk of being laid off in a downturn." WATCH | How the increase in temporary foreign workers is impacting job seekers: Is our 'addiction' to cheap foreign labour hurting young people? | About That 10 months ago Duration 13:58 The number of temporary foreign workers hired in Canada ballooned over the last two years — particularly in food and retail industries — and the youth unemployment rate has soared alongside it. Andrew Chang explains the government changes that led to the hiring spike, and why economists believe it's having a serious impact on both young job seekers and the broader economy. The scars of unemployment The bleak hiring landscape has some young people taking jobs just to stay ahead of the bills. "I spent two hours sweeping yesterday, and I have a mechanical engineering degree," said 24-year-old Ben Gooch of Dundas, Ont. The McMaster graduate is working part-time at a garden centre to cover some of his living expenses, having applied for upward of 100 jobs since December with only a handful of interviews to show for it. "I feel like I'm just throwing darts out at a wall and hoping to get lucky and hit something." Data shows that it's fairly common for young graduates to work in a job that only requires a high school diploma. But Canadian research has shown that being unemployed at a young age during a recession can lead to a persistent but non-permanent earnings loss for many years after — a well-studied phenomenon known as " wage scarring." Other research also suggests that entering the labour market during a recession can impact a person's health outcomes. "Where it can lead to scarring — I mean, we might think of it as sort of a temporary blemish — but it can have long term implications when the economy goes into a serious recession," said Miles Corak, an Ottawa-based economics professor at the City University of New York's Graduate Centre. "Long-term earnings prospects are dampened for people graduating during the recession — not because they're not getting jobs, but eventually they fall into a part of the labour market that isn't as high-paying, in types of occupations that they didn't anticipate doing," said Corak. The economic downturns seen in Canada during the early 1980s and 1990s show the impact of that scarring. Youth unemployment reached a peak of 18.3 per cent in 1983, and rose again to 17.2 per cent in 1992 and 1993, with real wage declines observed among the 17 to 24 cohort in the years afterward. 'I'm kind of waiting for life to start' The lack of opportunities for young people aren't good for the rest of the country either, said Williams, the researcher. "Young people are a treasure of resource that we need to support and also yield dividends from," she said. Corak offers a different perspective. "I'm not so certain that it impacts the economy [so much] as the nature of our economy gets imprinted more clearly on younger people," he observed. Some young people, he noted, are doing very well and earning more than their parents did, while others are losing ground. "What we're seeing is many young people much more stressed, and running faster on a treadmill to stay still." Lately, Gooch has been reflecting on where his parents were at this stage of their lives. By the time they were in their mid-20s, they were working on their careers, owned real estate and were building a life together, he said. The young engineer hasn't given up on his search — he's applying for jobs across the country and abroad, both in and out of his field. He's accepted that he doesn't know what his circumstances will look like in a year.
Daily Mail
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Buffy's Eliza Dushku reveals milestone in shock new career nearly 10 years after walking away from Hollywood
Eliza Dushku graduated with her master's degree in clinical mental health counseling from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Friday, June 6. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star, 44, shared a video clip of her receiving her degree on stage and walking off with it. She also shared several photos to her Instagram Stories including one photo posing with her classmates all looking very happy to be done with their studies. 'Graduating with my master's degree (!!) feels like more than an achievement—it feels like a deep calling realized,' her caption began. 'True growth, energy, and passion—manifested. After nearly a decade of inner work and building a new life, I'm so grateful for this moment in time. 'To my highest self—for taking this wild leap away from everything I knew and making it happen. To my boys + ♥️—for the little sacrifices made & love you gave, each day to honor and support this dream.' She then went on to thank her 'family, friends—new and old—my colleagues/classmates, professors/teachers, and community.' 'I give thanks: for rooting me on, encouraging me day in and day out, and affording me the grace, strength, and space to step fully into these past years of clinical training. 'Today, I stand grounded and ready to support others on their journeys of becoming—through self-discovery, healing, and transformation. 'The connectedness I feel in holding safe, compassionate space for those who seek the undertaking is such lifeblood now,' her caption concluded. The post also featured a photo of her young kids' handwritten notes, which read 'Good Job Mommy' and 'I Love You Mom.' Alongside her husband, real estate developer Peter Palandjian, Eliza is funding groundbreaking research and clinical trials on the potential of psychedelics, according to 2024 interview in Boston Magazine. 'I had the means to shift directions and choose a course in my life that focused on healing myself so that I could help heal others. I would be remiss if I didn't now share the transformation and the peace and the passion that I have,' Dushku said. 'This is just absolutely so clearly my real calling, my real purpose,' she continued at the time. Dushku hasn't been seen on screen since 2017, when she appeared in Netflix's The Saint and played J.P. Nunnelly in CBS's Bull. That year, she stepped away from Hollywood after accusing her Bull co-star Michael Weatherly of sexual harassment. In the wake of the allegations, which Weatherly has denied, Dushku was written out of the show and told that her role as a series regular had been abruptly canceled. Mediation with CBS resulted in the network agreeing to pay Dushku a confidential settlement of $9.5million - roughly the amount she stood to earn if kept on the show for four seasons. Weatherly apologized for his behavior toward Dushku in a statement to the Times, saying: 'During the course of taping our show, I made some jokes mocking some lines in the script. 'When Eliza told me that she wasn't comfortable with my language and attempt at humor, I was mortified to have offended her and immediately apologized. 'After reflecting on this further, I better understand that what I said was both not funny and not appropriate and I am sorry and regret the pain this caused Eliza.' Dushku first rose to fame in 1998 when she was cast as Faith, the rebellious Slayer, on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her standout role as Faith, which she portrayed until 2003, earned her a devoted fanbase and solidified her status as a rising star in Hollywood. Dushku also starred in the hit cheerleading film Bring It On (2000), which became a cult classic. In her personal life, Eliza married Peter in 2018, and the couple has since welcomed two children. The family has since made a home in Boston, Eliza's birthplace, where they are enjoying life away from Hollywood.
Fast Company
31-05-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Is a master's degree worth it? A new survey of hiring managers casts doubt
Hiring managers aren't convinced that master's degree holders perform better than candidates with two years of work experience, but they are still willing to pay them more. That's according to a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. hiring managers conducted by Resume Genius. Fifty-two percent of respondents said the performance of those who earn the credential is the same as those with a bachelor's degree plus two years of work experience. Another 10% believe it's worse. 'A master's degree simply isn't experience; it's knowledge,' explains Resume Genius career expert Nathan Soto. 'So much practical know-how can only be learned by doing the job, and higher education doesn't prepare people for work. It prepares them for even higher levels of academic study.' The survey also suggests a significant discrepancy in how different generations view the degree, with more than double the proportion of Gen Z hiring managers—29% in total—suggesting it leads to stronger performance, compared with just 13% of Boomers. 'As Baby Boomers age out of the workforce, it suggests that the proportion of hiring managers who value master's degrees is growing,' Soto says.
