Applications for Fairfax traineeships opened over the weekend, confirming reports that the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age will each be halving their respective trainee intakes from around eight per year to four, and that half of those would be fresh from high school, boasting nothing more than a year 12 certificate.

Aside from concerns over widening an already sizable gap between journalism graduate numbers and entry-level positions available to them, and Fairfax’s declining commitment to training, the changes clearly illustrate the value that the media group places on tertiary journalism students and educators.

As a final year journalism student myself, rocketing busily towards a November graduation without a clear vision of where I’m headed and now even less confidence that there will be a place for me when I get there, the decision came as a whopping “f-ck you”.

Crikey’s Margaret Simons summed up these feelings nicely when she put this simple question to Fairfax last week:

What is the point of spending three years getting a degree if your chances…are the same as if you have just left school?

What is the point?

Do the thousands of class hours I have devoted to tackling the finer practical and theoretical points of the industry count for nothing? Have my supplementary elective studies, designed to cultivate an in-depth understanding of the society and political structures I will be writing within and about not taken me beyond a high school level of comprehension? And what of the tens of thousands of dollars I have spent on my tertiary education? Has that bill been footed in vain?

The answers might be unclear for Brian McCarthy, the Fairfax newspaper exec who is ushering in the changes, but in reality each question should be met with a resounding “no”.

Of course, fresh graduates are not ready to jump straight into a top position at a major news outlet – a degree lays comprehensive foundations at an entry level, and on-the-job training is generally required.

The past success of the school-leaver model isn’t being questioned either, up until little over a decade ago it had been responsible for producing the majority of Australia’s top journalists. But the tertiary model represents the next step in journalism training.

The point of a university education is that it offers more than just practical industry training – though industry skills-based units rightly make up at least 50% (and in most cases much more) of tertiary journalism programs. The complementary theoretical elements of a journalism degree compel students to engage with the important broader industry issues – media ownership, regulation, the rise of electronic journalism, and the many roles of the media in society now and into the future.

This type of engagement, with an emphasis on critical analysis and independent thought, has never been more vital. It builds upon traditional training structures to produce better equipped reporters and, perhaps even more important in the fast evolving media landscape, thinkers.

With a firm grasp on industry theory, these are the journalists best positioned to help steer their outlets through uncertain digital waters.

Then again, reporting on matters such as the infamous dwarf p-nis episode may demand more than that.