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Complete PICLE corpus of essays by Polish advanced EFL students (330,000)

/^t/The distinction between practical and theoretical knowledge is connected with another factor contributing to the theory that university degrees are of little value in the real world. The knowledge that a student has after having graduated from a university is only theoretical. In very few cases students have an opportunity to use their knowledge in practise or to gain professional experience while studying. However nowadays, the key-word while applying for a job is "Experience". The number of years one has worked in a particular profession is in most of the cases more important than the marks he/she got for his/her M.A. thesis. The very basic requirements imposed on people who want to work for some prestigious firm are the ability to work on a computer and to use a fax-machine (not to mention typing), fluency in more than one foreign language. These are the things which are usually not included in a curriculum of studies. Consequently, usually none of them is a requirement for getting a university degree. What follows, for a potential employer the fact that an employee has finished university is of a very little importance and in most of the cases will not be the decisive argument during the job-interview.