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Comment by abdullahkhalids | Hacker News Reader

When I went to submit a physical copy of my PhD thesis to the relevant office, the person in front of me was an old lady, at least in her 70s or even her 80s.

We had an interesting conversation. She had completed a PhD in Greek literature, I think. Self-funded. Taken the standard time. She was sorry about all the domestic responsibilities she had put on her husband. She had, with her, a younger friend (a lady probably late 50s, early 60s) to help her with computers :D

Made me feel very differently about all the hard work I had done. Very inspiring and uplifting. She said, she did it because she was bored and wanted to go beyond her two Masters degrees.

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This suggests all kinds of interesting questions about the point of university.

For undergrads it's clearly a combination of finishing school, networking hothouse, and social club, with some education thrown in.

For postgrads, it's a long-shot chance at tenure (extremely unlikely unless you're the product of an Ivy, but it's nice to dream) and perhaps some improved job prospects. (Also unlikely, but not as much.)

For universities, it's a cash grab. First they get the fees, then they get the bequests. Also, some education is thrown in.

Considering the age/wealth profile is now heavily skewed to the over-50s, it would make sense for universities to cater more for mature students. Remaking university culture as life-long access rather than here-come-the-teens would break a lot of cultural expectations - but might also be the only way to keep the university model alive over the medium term.

> For undergrads it's clearly a combination of finishing school, networking hothouse, and social club, with some education thrown in.

Never was it for me, and I'm certainly not alone.

Yeah for me it was just the easiest way to get a job. Didn't really ever go to lectures, was in the students' union maybe twice, got a flatshare in final year with people I had met doing my year's industrial placement.

> Form postgrads, it's a long-shot chance at tenure (extremely unlikely unless you're the product of an Ivy, but it's nice to dream) and perhaps some improved job prospects. (Also unlikely, but not as much.)

Meh, I'm probably atypical (though not unique) but my postgrad was mostly a matter of doing what seemed the most interesting and fun/bearable at the time. I continued as a lecturer for a couple of years for the same reason. I've left academia but I'm ultimately following the same path, although I'm now also thinking a bit more about the impact of my work on society.

> This suggests all kinds of interesting questions about the point of university.

The point of a university is that it is a store house of universal knowledge. That's even where the name came from.

The point of professors is to generate more knowledge and to pass it along. The most important place in a university is the library, although much of the library these days might physically be rack of flashing lights and cooling fans in a dark room somewhere.

The task of young adults is to prepare themselves for a career, do networking, build social contacts, and broaden their education. That they do that at university as well as everywhere else is irrelevant.

It's OK for anyone of any age to go to a university to gain knowledge, because that's its main purpose. It's great that anyone can obtain formal recognition for a level of knowledge gained, at any age.

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