Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace. Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the course is useful to an employer. What, in your opinion, should be the main function of a university?
Sample Response
Whether a university’s role should be to prepare graduates for specific jobs or simply to educate without a particular vocation in mind is a subject of debatea debatable issue. This essay arguesbelieves that universities fulfill both purposes. The essay will first discuss the function of vocational courses, followed by a discussion of more traditional tertiary education. Some students have a particular career in mindvery specific job in mind when they enroll at university. Medicine, dentistry and accountancy have clear career paths and these courses allow peopleand they allow people to prepare for and then enter a particular professionfocus on and then undertake a certain profession upon graduation. This approach suits thoseThis suits those who have decided on a career and it prevents them from spending timeit avoids them wasting time studying a broader subject such as Englisha more general subject like English. For instance, in the United States, you must complete four years of higher education before you can study law and many feel that these four years are a waste of time, that would have been better used focusing on their chosen discipline. However, vocational education is not suitableHowever, this is not suitable for everyone and many people are unsure which careermany people have no idea what job they would like to do when they are 18. For these young people, it is better to do a non-vocational course, such as philosophy, and, such as philosophy and simply broaden their knowledgeadd to their intellect without an immediate career goalwithout a career goal in mind. If they were forced to study a more practical subject, they would be more likelyIf they were forced to study a more practical subject, they are more likely to quit or become disillusioned because they may not see the value of the assigned subjectthey don’t see the point of their chosen subject. For example, The Times recently reported that only 50% of law graduates wantonly 50% of law graduates actually want to become lawyers byat the end of their studies. In conclusion, the function of college is to both prepare students for the workforce and provide knowledge and which one a person chooses should depend on their preference at the time.
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response presents a clear, nuanced view that universities can serve both vocational and knowledge-based purposes, and each side is supported with relevant explanation and examples. Its main weakness is presentation as one continuous paragraph, which obscures the otherwise logical shift between the two functions, while a few grammatical slips reduce polish. Prioritise dividing the argument into clear body paragraphs and tightening sentence control.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response directly answers the question with a clear dual-function position and develops both functions through relevant reasoning and examples.
Clarify more explicitly how the two functions together constitute the university’s main role rather than simply serving different student preferences.
Coherence and Cohesion
Ideas progress clearly from vocational education to learning for its own sake, but the entire response is presented as one paragraph.
Separate the introduction, contrasting body arguments, and conclusion into distinct paragraphs to strengthen the visible structure.
Lexical Resource
Vocabulary is varied, topic-appropriate, and generally precise, with effective language for vocational and non-vocational education.
Refine occasional awkward expressions such as “add to their intellect” to achieve more natural precision.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses a broad range of complex structures with strong overall control, although several local errors remain.
Correct faulty clause joins and conditional consistency, especially in the law example and the sentence beginning “If they were forced”.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people think that universities should provide graduates with the knowledge and skills needed in the workplace. Others think that the true function of a university should be to give access to knowledge for its own sake, regardless of whether the course is useful to an employer. What, in your opinion, should be the main function of a university?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.