We have developed a curious habit in our professional circles. It has become increasingly common to see “Eng”, “BA” or “Dr” prefixed to names on business cards and social media, almost as if these titles were etched onto one's birth certificate.
Such an alphabet soup of credentials has evolved into a potent form of social signalling; a performance of competency that extends beyond professional astuteness and into our personal lives. Within the framework of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of institutionalised cultural capital, titles often function as a form of symbolic credit. They are used to claim authority and enforce professional closure, effectively creating a barrier that excludes those without the title, regardless of their actual competence.
Countries classified as late developers, or those that industrialised relatively late, refer to economies that began their industrialisation and economic modernisation significantly later than the original nations that led earlier waves of industrialisation. In these late-developer economies, the expansion of education has been one of the most remarkable aspects of this transformation. Near-universal literacy and widespread access to higher education stand as clear markers of progress; yet such rapid advancement can also bring unintended consequences. One such consequence is that when a state’s education system expands too rapidly and the labour market is unprepared to absorb all these individuals, competition intensifies, driving people to acquire more credentials in order to differentiate themselves and signal employability. Ronald Dore, an English sociologist, famously wrote The Diploma Disease. He observed decades ago that an increasing emphasis on credentials can point to something deeper than ambition, often leading to structural imbalances within the education–labour market nexus.
There is a fine line between schooling and education; and the faster this is understood at scale, the better our society will be. Schooling refers to the formal structures (ie degrees, certificates, examinations) through which knowledge is delivered and assessed. Education, by contrast, is the deeper process of acquiring understanding, reasoning, critical thinking and transferable skills. In rapidly expanding systems, the former can begin to overshadow the latter. Over time, this creates an environment in which credentials become proxies for competence rather than reflections of it.
It is within this context that we find ourselves in what might be described as a qualification spiral. Roles that once required only a secondary school certificate now demand undergraduate degrees and increasingly postgraduate ones. This escalation is not always driven by the complexity of the work itself, but by the practical need for employers to filter large volumes of applicants. Degrees, in this sense, function as a signalling mechanism in an increasingly competitive labour market. As sociologists have noted, this is a classic manifestation of credentialism, where there is growing reliance on formal qualifications as indicators of ability, regardless of whether they correspond to real-world skills.
In parallel, the cultural dimension of credentials has become more pronounced. The prestige of institutions — particularly the preference for transnational over national education — often supersedes the knowledge acquired within them. Titles such as “Dr” or “Eng” are no longer merely professional designations; they are also social markers embedded in identity and perception. In a society that has experienced rapid upwards mobility, credentials can come to symbolise achievement, security and status.
This dynamic has only intensified with the rise of platforms that issue certificates and credentials without necessarily ensuring deep learning or understanding. Online courses, certificates and badges are now more accessible, especially through short and lifelong learning programmes offered by top business schools and universities (eg HBS, LSE, Stanford). Such developments allow individuals to accumulate credentials at unprecedented speed. While this democratisation of learning is, in many ways, positive, it also contributes to the saturation of the credential landscape. When qualifications become abundant, their ability to differentiate individuals naturally diminishes.
For the state, the labour market and employers, this presents a growing challenge. Distinguishing between candidates who can apply knowledge and those who have simply accumulated credentials becomes increasingly difficult. The result is a mismatch between qualifications and capabilities, where individuals may appear highly educated on paper yet lack the practical or transferable skills required in the workplace. Over time, this leads to inefficiencies in hiring, reduced productivity and a misallocation of talent. It can also prompt states to implement labour nationalisation policies that may limit employers’ flexibility to hire or dismiss unsuitable candidates, thereby constraining the development of a more dynamic labour market.
None of this diminishes the remarkable progress that has been made. The expansion of education remains one of the most important achievements of modern development. However, as Oman continues its journey, the next stage will require a subtle but important shift. Greater emphasis will need to be placed not only on acquiring qualifications, but on demonstrating competence, adaptability and the ability to apply knowledge in practice. Ultimately, the challenge is not to reject credentials, but to rebalance their role. Titles and degrees will always have value, but they should serve as indicators of capability, not substitutes for it.
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