A degree does not need a board exam to matter

Selene Ashlee Vitor, Avril Nocos, Joshua Pasion

Not all college degrees enter the room the same way.

For generations, many Filipinos have been taught to believe that the safest road is the one ending with a professional license. It is a belief built on good intentions — parents wanting security for their children and families hoping education will become a pathway out of hardship. However, over time, that belief has also created an invisible hierarchy among college programs, where some are immediately trusted while others are expected to earn that trust.

As the world of work continues to transform, however, the distance between perception and reality has never been more apparent. The question is no longer whether board programs deserve respect, they undoubtedly do, but whether non-board programs have been underestimated for far too long.

Why are board programs seen as the “gold standard”?

Before students step into a classroom, many have already been taught which degrees are worth pursuing.

For many Filipinos, in choosing a college degree, these programs are often split into two: board and non-board. Board programs culminate in Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) licensure exams, while non-board programs do not. 

For generations, board examinations have symbolized more than professional qualification as they have become markers of prestige, security, and social mobility. Because of this, many assume board programs naturally lead to clearer career paths, greater stability, and a more secure future.

That belief is deeply embedded in Filipino culture, but belief is not always reality.

The 4th Philippine Graduate Tracer Study found that board-program graduates took a median of 11 months to get their first job, compared with five months for non-board graduates. The same study also revealed that only 49% of licensed graduates were working in jobs related to their degree, despite an overall employment rate of  76%, suggesting that licensure alone does not guarantee faster employment or a better match between education and career.

None of this diminishes the importance of professions that rightfully require licensure. Board programs still lead to respected careers like medicine, engineering, accountancy, and many others that carry responsibilities where public trust depends on rigorous professional standards, making board examinations both necessary and indispensable.

However, the mistake has never been valuing board programs — it has been believing that they are the only programs worthy of value.

Non-board programs shaping today’s workforce

If board programs have long been regarded as the traditional pillars of professional success, non-board programs have quietly become the driving force behind many of today’s fastest-growing industries. 

They may not culminate in licensure examinations, but they continue to produce graduates who develop technologies, share stories, build businesses, and deliver services that keep economies moving.

Among the non-board programs leading this shift are the following:

Information Technology / Computer Science / Information Systems

Behind every app downloaded, transaction completed, and website visited is someone who built the digital world people now depend on every day.

IT-related programs are built for people who enjoy solving problems, working with systems, and creating digital solutions. It is a field that constantly evolves, where learning does not stop at graduation.

Graduates often become software developers, web developers, systems analysts, quality assurance testers, cybersecurity assistants, or IT support specialists. Many also build freelance careers or start working remotely early because of global demand.

There is an estimated 79% employment among IT graduates, with 70% working in jobs aligned with their degree and nearly 26% securing employment within six months after graduation. Most also claimed that their curriculum matched real work demands.

In this field, success is not based on passing a board exam but on what you can build, fix, and improve. Practical skills and a strong portfolio often matter more than any single credential.

Communication / Journalism / Broadcasting

Information may travel in seconds, but making it truthful, meaningful, and impactful still depends on skilled communicators.

The communication field is for those who want to work with stories, media, and public messaging. It trains students to write clearly, think critically, and communicate across platforms from traditional journalism to social media and corporate communication.

Graduates enter fields such as broadcasting, content creation, public relations, advertising, teaching, and digital media management. Others work in corporate offices where communication is a core skill, and not just a job title.

According to Espada, Alingasa, and Quero (2023), 46.86% landed their jobs in less than a month, while 92% reported that the communication skills they developed in college were directly relevant to their first job.

Communication graduates are not limited to one industry. Their greatest strength lies in their adaptability and versatility. Whether in media, business, education, online platforms, or in the government, the ability to communicate well is always in demand.

Business Administration / Marketing / Human Resource / Entrepreneurship

Every successful organization is built not only by great ideas, but by people who know how to turn those ideas into sustainable realities.

This program is for those interested in how organizations run, how products are sold, and how people and systems are managed. It is one of the most flexible degrees because it connects to almost every industry.

Graduates work in marketing, sales, human resources, banking, corporate management, and even startups. Many also become entrepreneurs or build careers that shift across industries over time.

The 4th Philippine Graduate Tracer Study reported a 91.6% employment rate and an 87.2% labor force participation rate among business-related graduates, demonstrating continued relevance of these programs despite a competitive job market.

Business programs reward initiative. Two graduates with the same degree can have completely different outcomes depending on skills, experience, and how early they build exposure to real work.

Tourism / Hospitality Management

The world’s most memorable destinations are built by the people who welcome others into them.

This is for those who enjoy service, people interaction, and fast-paced environments. It trains students in hotel operations, food and beverage services, tourism planning, and customer experience.

Beyond hotels and travel agencies, tourism and hospitality professionals contribute to one of the country’s key economic sectors by promoting destinations, managing services, and connecting cultures through meaningful experiences.

Melchor, De Guzman, and Maling (2025) found an 84.27% employment rate among graduates, while Say et al., 2026 reported that 43.2% secured employment immediately after graduation.

This field shows strong entry into the workforce, especially for those who are flexible and willing to start in frontline roles. Long-term growth is often driven by experience, service excellence, and the ability to adapt within a dynamic global industry.

Multimedia Arts / Digital Arts / Animation / Film

Before ideas can influence the world, someone must first give them a voice, a color, and a story people will remember.

This field is for creative thinkers who want to turn ideas into visual, digital, and multimedia outputs. It covers design, animation, film production, editing, user interface/user experience, and digital storytelling.

Graduates work as graphic designers, animators, video editors, filmmakers, UI/UX designers, content creators, and freelancers, with many building professional portfolios even before earning their diploma.

The World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2023 identifies creativity, design thinking, and digital literacy among the competencies that continue to grow in demand. At the same time, automation is reshaping creative work, which makes adaptability and continuous skill upgrading essential.

These programs represent only a fraction of the opportunities available beyond board-regulated professions. Their graduates continue to demonstrate that the value of a degree is not determined by whether it ends with a licensure examination, but by the impact its graduates create in the workplaces, industries, and communities they help shape.

When “non-board” is mistaken for “no future”

Perhaps the hardest part of choosing a non-board program is not studying it — it is constantly having to justify why you chose it in the first place. Even before the first class begins, some students find themselves defending a future that has already been judged by the name of their degree.

As these ideals were passed from one generation to the next, an assumption also took root: if a program does not lead to a licensure exam, it must lead to fewer opportunities.

However, the greatest irony is that while society continues to measure degrees by the presence of a board examination, the workplace has begun measuring graduates by something entirely different. Across industries, employers increasingly seek individuals who can think critically, solve unfamiliar problems, communicate effectively, collaborate with diverse teams, and continuously learn as technology and market demands evolve.

This shift is echoed in the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, which identifies analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility, technological literacy, and creative problem-solving among the fastest-growing skills demanded by employers worldwide. These are competencies that are not confined to board or non-board programs but are cultivated through meaningful learning, practical experience, and a willingness to grow beyond the classroom.

Perhaps this is why defining a person’s future by the presence — or absence — of a board examination has become an increasingly outdated way of viewing higher education. A license may open the door to a profession, but it is character, competence, and continuous learning that sustain a career long after the examination has been passed.

No degree should have to carry the burden of proving its worth before its graduates are given the chance to prove theirs. A non-board program is not a detour from success, nor is it a lesser version of a board course. It is simply a different path, one whose destination is molded not by the title printed on a diploma, but by the knowledge, skills, and purpose that its graduates choose to build along the way.

The weight of choice in navigating program selection

Choosing a college degree program used to feel like picking a path. Today, for many students, it feels like diffusing a bomb. 

For Gen Z and the incoming crop of college students, the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is no longer an innocent conversation starter, as it has become a high-pressure interrogation. 

There is an overwhelming expectation to get it right on the first time. Family members often encourage degrees perceived as stable and prestigious — the classic doctor, lawyer, or engineer routes. On the other hand are students confronting a rapidly changing economy, uncertain job markets, and the growing fear that choosing the wrong degree could leave years of sacrifice unrewarded.

Reports from Online Education (OEd), a CHED-accredited institution, note a critical 8% to 12% increase in tuition fees in 2025, making a college education an even greater investment for Filipino families. When contrasted with broader data regarding the persistent challenge of underemployment and low starting salaries for fresh graduates, higher education feels less like an investment and more like a high-stakes financial gamble. 

This creates a relentless tug-of-war between passion and practicality. Students are often told to pursue what they genuinely love, only to hear moments later, “Anong mapapala mo riyan? Mapapakain ka ba niyan?”

Caught between aspirations and expectations, many students begin treating college applications not as opportunities to discover themselves, but as tests where only one answer is considered correct. The fear of making the “wrong” choice becomes so overwhelming that passion is often set aside in favor of perceived security, while curiosity gives way to caution.

When choosing a college program carries such immense financial and emotional weight, decision paralysis becomes almost inevitable. The burden is intensified by the belief that a single decision made at seventeen or eighteen years old will determine the next four decades of one’s professional life.

Redefining the true value of one’s degree

The world of work is changing faster than the way society measures success.

Driven by the swift integration of automation and artificial intelligence, the rapid rise of remote work options, and the growth of unconventional digital career paths, the concept of a “secured degree” is shifting under our feet. Entire technical skill sets are depreciating faster than the four years it takes to earn a diploma, forcing a massive and industry-wide mindset shift. 

It is time to look beyond the prestige of specific major titles and focus on redefining what makes a degree worthwhile.

For decades, the worth of a college program was often measured by its destination. While licensure remains important for many professions, it can no longer be the sole indicator of a degree’s value. Whether a program leads to a board exam or not does not automatically determine its relevance, impact, or long-term sustainability. 

Perhaps the greatest injustice against non-board programs is that they have long been expected to prove a future that board programs are rarely asked to justify. While one begins with trust and the other with doubt, both are ultimately judged by the same destination — a life built through years of work, sacrifice, and perseverance.

Maybe the problem has never been the absence of a board examination. Maybe the problem is that society became so accustomed to measuring the value of a degree by what happens after graduation that it forgot to measure what education was supposed to cultivate in the first place: people capable of creating meaning, solving problems, and contributing wherever they are needed.

There will come a time when employers, colleagues, and communities will no longer ask what category a degree belonged to. What they will remember is who remained dependable when work became difficult, who continued learning when change became inevitable, and who left behind work that mattered long after job titles and professional labels had lost their novelty.

The future was never unfair to non-board programs, only the way people chose to look at them. After all, no degree has ever carried a person’s future; it has always been people who carried the future of their degree.