This fortnight is, every year, stressful. For pupils and parents alike, it is that day of opening exam results, A levels last week, GCSEs this.
I remember it well. 44 years ago, I opened my A-level results to see my dismal two Es and D. Having failed to get into university to read mechanical engineering, I chose a career in the City instead. Who knows whether I would have done better or worse, but I’ve done a lot. People like Richard Branson have done pretty well, with hardly any O-levels.
So my heartfelt congratulations to everyone who has taken their exams. The vast majority will have done better than me so I have enormous respect to everyone who took their school studies more seriously than I did.
More pupils will go to their first choice of university this year than any other year. But more than ever, people are questioning the wisdom of university education. Importantly, the question is being asked, will a graduate do financially better or worse off with a degree? This is probably an even more important question now graduate level intake jobs are fast being taken by artificial intelligence.
I’ve always questioned the wisdom of a random 50% target for school leavers attending university. Singapore has a far higher ratio, but tiny population. It has a higher productivity economy than ours, but that doesn’t translate through to us.
The idea was reasonable. Better educated people are more productive so educate more people and productivity goes up faster. But that hasn’t been the case.
And universities, in some cases, have moved from being establishments of learning and research, to degree factories selling degrees in skills that do not need degrees.
Indeed, the model doesn’t work at the most basic level. A graduate comes out with a debt over £30,000. If their degree is economically valuable, they will repay that debt quickly. But if that degree has no economic value, they will not achieve the earnings level needed to repay it. So the taxpayer sucks it up, our system paying for degrees the economy doesn’t want. Its bonkers.
And universities have seen a huge drop in revenue in real terms, so they have to supplement their incomes with overseas students paying far higher fees. The value of the degree then goes back home to where the foreign student came from, taking away that UK generated skill.
Now, more than ever, is the time to look again at the university model.
