Higher Education Skills and Competencies: School vs. University Report

This report examines the differences in learning environments between school and university, highlighting the shift towards independent learning in higher education. It contrasts the supportive structure of schools with the self-motivated approach required in universities, discussing aspects such as class sizes, teacher-student relationships, and the development of independent study habits. The report also analyzes the Volkswagen emissions scandal, detailing the discovery of the scandal, its environmental and societal impacts, the steps taken by the company and the government, and the resulting compensation. It emphasizes the importance of ethical corporate behavior, strict environmental regulations, and the need for transparency in the automotive industry. The report concludes with a reflection on the role of higher education in fostering independent learning and critical thinking, alongside the analysis of real-world issues like the Volkswagen scandal.

HIGHER EDUCATION
SKILLS AND
COMPETENCIES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Self reflection...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Higher education is a stage of student life where he enters in a university and he becomes an
adult and he is capable of doing all his work by himself. He has to choose a field in which he is
going to have further study and perform the job related to the study only. There are various
university in United Kingdom. Universities are divided in university and university college.
There is a very big difference in learning between a University and School. The students try to
do maximum by himself when he reaches colleges because there is no one to spoon-feed him.
But in case of school the case is just opposite as you have teachers and staff who are there to
support you in every problem. This report shows the difference in learning in a university and a
school. The report also shows various views on Volkswagen emissions scandal. It covers how
the scandal was found and how it affected the environment and people. It also covers- What was
the scandal and what steps were taken to remove it? It covers the steps taken by the government
against the company and the compensation it has given to all the customers.
Self reflection
Distinction between learning in school and University
There is a big change in environment when a person moves from school to a university.
The basic change is that the person becomes adult when he reaches university and he is a
youngster when he is in school. Learning in school and university are very different. In
university a person should be self motivated and there is no one to tell you what to do any more.
But in school there is always a support that you get from the teachers and staff. One more
difference is that in university independent learning prevails which is a big shock to students
who come from secondary schools. In university when a student go in class, he finds more than
250 students attending a lecture together, but it's not compulsory that they have good relation
with the lecturer but in school, there are only 25 students in class and all know the teacher
personally and they share a good teacher-student relation between them. After coming to college
a person becomes independent and becomes capable of doing all the work himself without any
support but in school the students are dependent on teachers of most of the work(An and et.al.,
2018). In university a person has to go to library by his own dedication and there is no one to
motivate but in school there are teachers who are there to motivate. In university, more freedom
is given to students as compare to schools.
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Personal opinion is easy to give in schools as compare to university. In university
students have to run after the lecturer and this is opposite in schools where the teachers run after
student to complete his task. Spoon-feeding is not there in universities (Assiter, 2017). In school
the teachers help you cross the difficult path, but in university the lecturer will show you the path
but crossing it or not depends on you and your hard work. A broad outline of what is required is
given to you and how to do and help needed to do the work are all decided by the student
himself. Help is there in university also but you have to go there and take it. University is
interesting as the student learn more of how to act as an individual in different situation and he
does not depend on others do to work. A student gets to know the meaning of library in
university only as there are lots of books by different authors, on different subjects and types. In
school the classes are regular as the timings are fixed, but in universities the timings are not fixed
and lectures are not regular too so you must be updated from your online portal as all the
information is passed in there only. A student learns more of his future goal in university only
and he decides what he wants to do in future. (Blackwelder and et.al., 2016).
Volkswagen Emissions Scandal
Volkswagen Emission Scandal also known as Dieselgate or Emissionsgate started in
September 2015. it was firstly noticed by United Stated Environment Protection Agency and
issued a notice to the company that it was violating Clean Air Act law. The agency found out
that the Volkswagen group was selling TDI(Turbocharged Direct Injection) diesel engines which
during testing release less Nitrogen Oxide and when they are sold to customer and when driving
to road are emitting 40 times more nitrogen oxide(Kruss and et.al., 2015). It was also analysed
by me that the company sold around eleven million cars worldwide and around 5,00,000 cars
were sold in United States in the year 2009 to 2015. now in 2014 California Air Resources Board
had commissioned a study on the different European vehicles and US vehicles and what are the
different emissions they release. The investigation was done on 15 vehicles (Mir, 2015). The
investigation was done by five scientists who found the difference of emission which the car
creates in the regulatory testing and on real-life driving. It was found that every 2 of 3 diesel cars
generates pollution which is dangerous for all living creatures.
Now the regulators of all country began to investigate Volkswagen and the news spread very
fast all over the world and this reduced the share price of Volkswagen by a third. Problem was so
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huge that the CEO of company resigned and m,any head of departments were suspended. The
company announced plan to recall the cars and it spend around 16 billion pound in April 2016.
The company was also pleaded guilty in 2017 against criminal charges(Moore and Morton,
2017). The statement was set out that how engineers of Volkswagen had made the devices so as
to pass the car from the US emission tests. I also realised that the company was fined with 2.5
billion pounds for cheating against the US emission government test. Volkswagen agreed all the
charges and the CEO was also charged with fraud and conspiracy in May, 2018. The scandal
raised awareness on higher level of pollution and what it can do to nature. Pollution generated by
Volkswagen was very much and the governments recognised late about the problems. No
company should produce those cars which emits pollution and the government rules and
regulations should also be tough related to environment and pollution. The government should
also never allow companies to use this type of software which are very bad for the
nature(Rhodes, 2016). Fast decisions should be taken so as to remove all those cars from the
market which emits such kind of pollution.
The government should help Volkswagen in getting back the cars which are still running on
the roads of different countries. Warning should be given to all other companies about the
problems that they can face if they do such type of crimes. Volkswagen other than paying fine
also paid compensation to all the owners as the Customer Goodwill package and offered
1000$cash to every owner of a specific model and given some more monetary benefit to other
Volkswagen owners(Tse and et.al., 2017). From this I have analysed that Companies should take
the environmental matter seriously by following the laws of the government. Companies should
not give false information and should not use wrong procedure to pass their vehicles. With
stricter emission control, diesel prices have gone far more than before for both the consumer as
well as the manufacturers. Government is trying to take those measures in which the use of
diesel is minimised so that the pollution in the world reduces. The government is influencing
more on the use of electric cars and use of natural gas as the subsidiary of petrol and diesel.
Petroleum prices are increased in every country by government so that its consumption can be
reduced. The emission from the burning of petroleum product has affected the climate change
very much. Every company is just running to increase their profits and they are taking steps
which are not good for environment(Wall, 2017).
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CONCLUSION
Higher education plays a very important role in a student life. From this stage he becomes an
adult and he becomes capable of doing all the work himself. School life is said to be better
because there is no pressure on us. Higher education teaches a student to do all the work himself.
He gets to know different perspective of people and their behaviour. He gains from the
knowledge and experience of the lecturer. The student gets to know about his capabilities and
how much pressure he can handle. The report also gives the critical thinking of issue of
Volkswagen Emission Scandal. The scandal first came in highlight in 2015 by the US
environment protection agency. No company should do cheating with the rules and regulations
of the country. Government should always take proper steps against these companies.
Government should be more careful next time so that other companies are not able to try any
more tricks to escape any laws.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
An, Q. and et.al., 2018. June. Volkswagen’s Diesel Emission Scandal: Analysis of Facebook
Engagement and Financial Outcomes. In International Conference on Big Data(pp. 260-
276). Springer, Cham.
Assiter, A., 2017.Transferable skills in higher education. Routledge.
Blackwelder, B. and et.al., 2016. The Volkswagen Scandal.
Kruss, G. and et.al., 2015. Higher education and economic development: The importance of
building technological capabilities. International Journal of Educational
Development,43, pp.22-31.
Mir, L., 2015. New Ways of Teaching Metacognitive Skills in Higher Education: Converstand,
A Software for A Better Knowledge Acquisition. In Proceeding of INTED2015
Conference 2nd-4th March 2015 (pp. 4557-4562).
Moore, T. and Morton, J., 2017. The myth of job readiness? Written communication,
employability, and the ‘skills gap’in higher education.Studies in Higher
Education.42(3). pp.591-609.
Rhodes, C., 2016. Democratic business ethics: Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and the
disruption of corporate sovereignty. Organization Studies.37(10). pp.1501-1518.
Tse, Y.K. and et.al., 2017. Exploring the hidden pattern from tweets: Investigation into
Volkswagen emissions scandal. In Supply Chain Management in the Big Data Era (pp.
172-198). IGI Global.
Wall, T., 2017. A manifesto for higher education, skills and work-based learning: through the
lens of the manifesto for work. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based
Learning.7(3). pp.304-314.
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