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What's more important than education? Happiness!

Turns out, parents value their kids' happiness over cramming for good grades!

It's hugely heartening to know that in this competitive, cut-throat era, all that people want is for their children to be happy - over and above a good education.
An independent research study commissioned by HSBC surveyed more than 4,500 parents in 15 countries around the world.
University education is still seen as the core component in a child's life to equip him/her for a successful and happy future. While some factors remain a given, like parents wanting their kids to pursue professional careers in medicine, engineering, law or business management, other findings have turned popular assumptions on its head - instead of academic learning, 45 per cent of parents thought that enhanced confidence and social skills are the most valuable aspects of a university education, preparing students for life after graduation; 42 per cent of parents even thought that a university education offers poor value for money!
 
In the UAE, findings included parents rating career success for their children highly (43 per cent); around three in 10 parents wanting their children to work in medicine (33 per cent), with an engineering job coming second (16 per cent); 51 per cent of parents willing to pay for additional tutoring for their kids, but only 19 per cent would consider paying extra for their child to attend university in another country. Finally, 43 per cent of UAE parents rank career success highly for their children, but only after their happiness, at 60 per cent.