Originally published January 2021.
The way we educate our school-leavers needs to change.
I can recall being staggered, when first working in the US, by how much personal debt individuals took on as a matter of course to attain a degree. I also remember thinking how fortunate we were in the UK that education to degree level remained ‘free’ (excepting those who chose to engage with the independent schools sector). We could leave university ready to enter the workplace, unencumbered by the kind of debts saddling our cousins across the water.
These now appear to have been halcyon days, to say the least. Debt in the US for student loans sits at $1.6trn, the highest level of consumer debt after mortgages. In the UK obviously it’s nowhere near as much overall, but the average level of debt per individual is actually higher than in the US. Government figures show that average UK student debt in 2019 was £40,000 per student. The government expects that 25% of current full-time graduates who take out loans will pay them off in full.
No one should be put off going to university because they believe they can’t afford it. Graduates need to earn around £27,000 a year before they are required to start paying off the loan, at a rate of 9% on everything earned above this figure. Some, in lower-paid jobs, will pay very little or indeed nothing back on their student loan. The average salary in the UK is currently £30,000 and in London it’s £37,000. Based on these figures, someone on £50,000 would pay back £2,070 in a year. As many people don’t earn this much each year, this may appear to be a reasonable investment to make in an individual’s future.
Data strongly suggests that for most graduates there is a direct monetary benefit in earning a degree. However, according to research by money.co.uk published this August, 62% of British adults erroneously believe a degree has no impact on earning potential. The facts show that a degree increases lifetime earnings by £107,532 on average. Women with degrees earn 51% more than those without, across their lifetimes.
Do we really expect people to continue to spend three or four years of their lives being ‘taught’?
There is naturally a disparity in earning potential among graduates, depending on the degree subject and indeed the university attended. Economics, medicine, law and maths deliver the highest return on investment, while graduates of creative arts, agriculture, English and philosophy see lower rates of earning than non-graduates, according to figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Department for Education. Graduates of Oxbridge and the Russell Group universities are likely to see the biggest increase in income, on average earning £176,500 more in a lifetime than UK non-graduates.
The undergraduate experience in 2020 has been less than optimal, for reasons outside universities’ control. The value of going to university is up for discussion once again. As the numbers above make clear, there is – or at least has been – a monetary advantage to taking a degree. And for courses such as medicine, attending university obviously remains essential in the very practical sense of being able to undertake the hands-on part of the experience. For many other subjects, though, do we really expect people to continue to spend three or four years of their lives being ‘taught’? Many courses seem to have very few contact hours per week – in some cases fewer than ten – with the remaining time given over to independent study.
While the university experience is about more than the academic side, the fact is that in the past 50 years universities have changed little (apart from changes forced upon them – polytechnics becoming universities, and tuition fees, to name but two). An individual studies for (usually) A levels, applies for a place before taking exams, gets a conditional or unconditional offer, sits exams, gets the results and hopes enough has been done to win the place of their choice. For many, feverish rounds of clearing ensue before finding a place at a hitherto unknown university or on a course that wasn’t quite what they wanted. Is this still the best we can offer in the 21st century?
Why are the majority of university degrees three or four years in duration? Why not two years, with longer terms and shorter holidays? Why aren’t the second and third years of degrees studied for remotely? Why are the degrees on offer not scaled back? Once ‘everyone’ has a degree, does that not make it worth a good deal less than it once did? There are now sales associate roles on the shop floor that ask for degree-educated applicants only. Surely the point of a degree, indeed of education at all, is that it singles you out as being somewhat different and having a more nuanced level of knowledge.
Once the graduation ceremony is concluded, so too is any thought of further formal education. This saddens me greatly
The future must bring change in the way we educate our school-leavers. For those with a practical leaning, apprentices and skills-based courses must continue to expand. For many others the opportunity to take a degree should remain, but different approaches to delivery need to be discussed. Remote learning can work, and micro-degrees add value by giving people the opportunity to learn from an array of subjects and disciplines.
The aim of education must be to instil a passion to learn. Currently the general view is that once the graduation ceremony is concluded, so too is any thought of further formal education. This saddens me greatly – the opportunity to learn throughout our lives is one of the most amazing we have. Around 90% of us are likely to need to upskill or develop anew over the next decade or so. Universities have a duty beyond the degree being studied. They need to ensure everyone that graduates continue to learn throughout their career.
