Paraphrase without killing the meaning

The dangerous paraphrase

Question: Some people think universities should focus on skills for employment.

Bad intro: Nowadays education is very important in the modern world. You have not paraphrased. You have avoided the task.

Better: It is often argued that higher education should prepare students for the workplace rather than for purely academic study.

How to paraphrase safely

Change structure more than vocabulary. Keep the same scope. If the question says children, do not write people of all ages.

In Reading and Listening

The test paraphrases you. Train by covering a sentence and saying it another way, then check you did not add or drop an idea.

That discipline is what I mark first on writing feedback.