The way we’ll work – do we really need more graduates?

Posted By Libby Hackett

28 March 2012

The UK has ‘too many graduates’. This is a sentiment frequently captured in newspaper headlines and widely held by many in the UK. But is it true?

Read More

Do we really have too many graduates?

Posted By Charles Levy

06 March 2012

Today’s (6 Mar) release from ONS does rather suggest that we may have too many graduates. They lead with two stylised facts “Recent graduates more likely to work in lower skill jobs than a decade ago” and “Over the same period the population of recent graduates who are no longer in education has increased by over 41 per cent”. From this it is not too much of a stretch to imagine this afternoon’s headlines and tomorrow’s comment pieces will claim that we should cut student numbers.

Read More

Last week it emerged that the unemployment rate was 25% for the 21-year-olds leaving university last year, compared to 20% of 18-year-old school leavers. There is a growing feeling amongst the public that widening participation in higher education has led to a proliferation of ‘mickey mouse’ degrees and a corresponding drop in the quality of graduates. In 2010 a YouGov opinion poll found that 52 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement "too many students are going to university now and it's devaluing degrees".

Worries over the link between widening participation and a perceived decline in graduate quality are still making headlines, most recently during the debate over the appointment of Les Ebdon as head of the Office for Fair Access. Commentators were quick to deride the nature and quality of courses available at the University of Bedfordshire, where Ebdon is Vice-Chancellor, and to brand his approach to access as a ‘model of mediocrity’. So should we be losing faith in

Read More