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
The primary purpose of tertiary education is to prepare graduates for their future careerscareer. While thousands of people would enrol for the sake of acquiring general knowledge and skills which will make them competitive in the job market, there is a portion of them who would expect to obtain the specific qualifications only for their dream job. Therefore, I strongly believe that universitiesuniversity should organise their course programmescourses’ programs in order to provide future employees with all the practical professional trainingskill sharpening professional training for their specific occupation.
One compelling reason for this is that all the contemporary occupations nowadays are task-specifictask specific which makes it a necessity for workers to be able to comply with every job requirement. Once they graduate, they are expectedOnce they graduate they are expected to take on all the responsibilities their job requirestake over all the responsibilities their job needs them to do, have the know-how, as well as the expertise to carry out all the arduous and demanding tasks. For instance, as soon as I graduated from the Faculty of Philology I had to take a part-time teaching job. I was overwhelmed with all the expectations my employer had in everyday practice, whereas there was no need at all of all the theory I had mastered throughout my studies.
A further reason is thatOn the other hand, it is beyond doubt that most of the jobs would require employees to do a lot of multitaskingmulti-tasking and to be capable of meeting deadlines while conducting project work. Apparently, big companies would prefer to employ a person well-equipped with all the necessary knowledge related to several positions within their range, instead of over-staffing. Notwithstanding the competitiveness among businesses, there is always a huge demand for the top-notch professionalstop notch professionals within one sector. This will be possible, only ifonly and only if universities raise their standards and provide broad education and practical trainingprovide broad education and practice for their students.
In conclusion, I would maintain that tertiary education should be more content-specific and ensure high-quality preparationensure the fastest and highest quality for their graduates. Not only will professionals be able to use their university knowledge as a catalyst for their careersuse their university knowledge as a catalyst towards their career, but they will be able to make a living out of it for a lifetime.
Why this response received Band 7.0
The response maintains a clear, relevant position and supports it with coherent workplace-based reasoning and a useful personal example. Its main limitation is that it barely acknowledges the value of knowledge for its own sake, while some signposting and phrasing are less precise than the argument deserves. Add a concise concession to the alternative view, then contrast it directly with the stronger case for employment-focused education.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response gives a clear opinion that universities should mainly prepare students for work and supports this with relevant workplace-based arguments. However, the opposing view of knowledge for its own sake is not really explored, so the answer is somewhat one-sided for a prompt that presents two functions.
Add a short concession explaining why knowledge for its own sake matters, then show why workplace preparation should still be the main function.
Coherence and Cohesion
Paragraphing is clear and ideas progress logically. Cohesion is generally effective, though 'On the other hand' is misleading because the paragraph continues the same side rather than presenting the contrasting view.
Use signposting that matches the logic: 'A further reason' for supporting points, and reserve 'On the other hand' for the opposing argument.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary range is good and includes academic terms, but several collocations are awkward or over-complex, such as 'skill sharpening professional training' and 'only and only if'.
Keep the academic tone but simplify unnatural phrases into precise collocations such as 'practical professional training' and 'only if'.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
There is a good range of complex structures and most meaning is clear. Some long sentences have punctuation, agreement, and structure problems, especially around relative clauses and conditional phrases.
Break long sentences into two when they contain multiple clauses, and check comma placement after introductory clauses.
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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.