If you are on this website reading this, chances are that you love your gorgeous little Scottish town, and probably don’t want to move out of it, if you can help it. Unfortunately, college often makes it mandatory for us to leave our homes and our favourite places behind to start a new life in a strange city.

However, we are here to tell you that you don’t need to leave Paisley behind in order to pursue higher education. As a matter of fact, you don’t even need to leave your house to get started on building your career beyond its current scope!

Nobody’s Going Anywhere for a Long Time!

If you had plans to join college somewhere outside the town, that’s probably not going to happen very soon on account of the ongoing Covid-19 viral outbreak. While lockdowns are never nice, it doesn’t have to be a total bust for students aspiring for higher education either.

There is a whole range of online institutions that were there even before we were shut-in. As of now, every educational institute is depending heavily on the internet to start/continue their classes. What it means is that since leaving home isn’t an option for now, you can stop wasting time and join one of the many accredited programs available online, in your own field of choice. You can now stay in Paisley, stay inside, and prevent anything from coming in between you and your career aspirations at the same time.

Do You Really Need Higher Education?

Unless you are a genius with a winning idea and all the money you can ever need, the answer would have to be a yes! Complete your education in the right field, and the money you spend right now on student loans will be worth it and more. 

However, that applies to students, but what about employees? Should employees with significant experience under their belts seek out professional education to further their knowledge, or would it be a waste of time that could have been used to earn more experience instead?

As the University of Exeter explains in this article, experience in combination with advanced, higher education in any field can do wonders for a worker’s career. Without sufficient knowledge and the necessary certifications, you will be stuck at the same stage without any possibility of future growth, post a certain point. 

Higher education will help you break that knowledge barrier and avail new career opportunities that were previously closed off to you. If you still choose to stay in Paisley, then you will hold a higher position in the town, but if you ever decide that you need to move out in order to grow, the opportunity for life in one of the big cities will always be there for someone with the right kind of skills, experience, and education.

Is Now the Right Time to Rethink Career Plans?

A lot of businesses have remained shut for a while in a lot of places. This is not just true for Scotland or the UK, but pretty much the whole world. A global recession is in order as a result of suspended business, so is this the right time to rethink your career choices or education plans?

The answer totally depends on who you are and what your choices have been so far, so it’s meaningless to churn out generic advice without knowing those important details. Then again, what can be said is that one should actually rethink and reconsider, based on the following questions:

  • Post the pandemic, will your chosen field still remain as valuable as it was earlier?
  • Since you will have to stay at home for a while, is there a different course or university which would be more suited to the online format?
  • If you are already working, is your current job at risk?
  • If it is at risk, why shouldn’t you try to augment your CV with higher education?

The biggest advantage of studying online right now and after the lockdown is that you will never have to take that break from work. Whether you are a student working at a local café, or a fulltime stocker at a supermarket, if you start your online course right now, you will be able to continue with it even after things settle down a bit. Neither a short work experience, nor a knowledge barrier will remain an issue for you anymore as a result, but you will have a head start all the same.

Author

Founder of Paisley.org.uk in 1998 and constantly strives to change peoples attitudes to the town, Brian is a self described Paisley Digital Champion who promotes Paisley via any means necessary. You can also follow me on X