For decades, societies have been obsessed with growth, which has mostly been measured by GDP. However, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that GDP does not fully reflect human well-being or the Earth’s sustainability. Despite its authority, GDP has a fatal flaw: It counts environmental destruction and widening inequality as economic progress. Now, the university community should stop focusing only on the GDP growth formula and ask a fundamental question: What new values should our generation prepare for beyond GDP?

GDP Measures Activity, Not Wellbeing

Current GDP-centered growth measures success only by how much societies produce and consume. People replacing usable smartphones and wasting clothes for the next fashion fad counts as economic growth. This is why many people argue that the current measure is broken.

Degrowth theorist Jason Hickel, professor at the Autonomous University of  Barcelona, finds the cause of this problem in artificial scarcity. This happens when public goods like  housing and healthcare are privatized, forcing  people to work harder just to survive. This process increases material throughput—the extraction and consumption of natural resources. Hickel argues that this is the main cause of the climate crisis. Making products from these resources requires massive energy, releasing more carbon than our planet can safely handle.

According to Hickel, society needs a move toward degrowth to fix this. He maintains that degrowth does not mean “becoming  poor.” Instead, it means reducing wasteful production while strengthening public goods so people can live well without endless pressure to earn more. Ultimately, Hickel argues for a transition to the Beyond GDP era. In this new era, success will be measured by the quality of lives, not just by numbers.

From Growth Pressure to Reorganizing Values

In the same way that GDP fosters an obsession with increasing numbers, Korean universities are similarly fixated on rankings, scores, and grades. It is time for them to move beyond this numbers-driven mindset. Professor Ko Bong-jun of the Humanitas College says changing how people think about scarcity is essential. He mentions the philosopher Spinoza: Truly noble things are rare, but capitalism makes people believe that anything rare is noble. On campus, this problem is visible in relative evaluation. Even if everyone in a class does their best, only a few are allowed to get an A. This system forces students to see their friends as rivals. To move beyond mere numeric fixation, Prof. Ko encourages students to stop fighting for rankings. Instead, students should look for values that actually matter.

Professor John R. Eperjesi of the Dept. of English Language and Literature also says “elite education is used to create scarcity.”  He notes that university rankings make students feel like a good life is only for a few. To him, the most important goal of degrowth is winning back “free time” from the constant pressure of student debt and job competition. Reclaiming this time is what allows students to escape the artificial scarcity of the résumé race and pursue true self-discovery.

Real Growth vs. Résumé Growth

Universities should be places where students can explore quality of life and social values. However, there is a huge gap between these ideals and the daily life of students. In a system driven by numbers, education is often reduced to a job-training tool. From Hickel’s view, employment rates are just tools to keep students trapped in this growth-focused ideology.

Kang Da-hyeon, a student in the Dept. of Architectural Engineering, described this contradiction clearly. “Pursuing activities I enjoy feels like real growth,” she said, “but I feel forced into irrelevant activities, like getting TOEIC scores, instead.” Students are not competing for knowledge; they are competing to avoid being left behind. Lim Geon-i, a student in the Dept. of English Language and Literature, feels this tension too. “In the job market, I often hear comments like, ‘You won’t be able to use your major,’” Lim  said. She expressed frustration on having to focus on practical certificates instead of deep academic exploration. Lim hopes that university remains a space for true learning where students can think and ask questions for themselves.

Imagine if universities measured graduates’ happiness or social contribution instead of employment rates. Campus life would look very different: more time for reading and discussion, and more support for meaningful study, rather than padding résumés.

Degrowth and Beyond GDP are not just economic theories. They are ethical choices about what people truly value. If endless growth is no longer the answer, then university students should ask a practical campus version of the same question: What kind of “growth” should universities protect?