Is going to university worth it any more?
Is going to university worth it any more? Reed’s latest data makes clear the advantages are certainly not what they used to be, writes James Reed in today’s Notebook
Data shows graduate jobs are in decline
Is going to university worth it any more?
That’s a question that many young people (and their parents) should be asking themselves in the coming weeks as they get their A-level grades and make choices about their future.
These days it’s a £100,000 decision, taking into account the costs of tuition, living expenses and lost income in the three or four years spent studying. Many young people come out of university very significantly in debt.
In the past, it’s been taken as given that a university degree will result in a higher net income over the course of a career, making attendance something of a no brainer.
But Reed’s data shows the number of graduate jobs is shrinking, thanks in part to the advance of AI and the tendency to offshore entry-level jobs.
According to our latest figures, the number of jobs specifically targeted at graduates has fallen from seven per cent of the total advertised on Reed.co.uk seven years ago to just four per cent now.
Our university sector has expanded massively in recent decades. But has quality suffered?
Clearly, degrees are required for things like medicine or engineering. I read economics and I still use what I learned daily. But more than half of the people that go to university now end up in jobs that don’t require a degree. That’s an awful lot of disappointed people. It seems clear that the advantages, for them at least, are not what they used to be.
If you want to be an accountant these days, it’s quite possible to get an entry-level position and qualify on the job, saving yourself a lot of time and expense. Green jobs, which are a huge growth area, don’t require a degree. We run two green academies, one in Oxfordshire and one in Cambridgeshire, where people are learning skills that should equip them for a lifetime. Construction is going to boom as we build more houses, and there are many related trades that don’t require degrees.
The problem is a lot of these jobs may not be ones that soft, middle-class hands want to do. We might need a major social reset to equip the next generation for the jobs of the future.
The Pinch of Salt Path
Having read (and recommended to Morning Wire readers in a previous column) The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, I was disappointed to see claims about the veracity of important parts of the story. Indeed it’s been nicknamed ‘The Pinch of Salt Path’. Just where the truth lies isn’t yet clear, but it reminded me of previous memoirs I’ve read that later turned out, at least allegedly, to be not all they were cracked up to be.
James Frey was shamed on Oprah 20 years ago for apparently fabricating his bestselling memoir about battling addiction, A Million Little Pieces. Greg Mortenson, best-selling author of Three Cups of Tea, the story of a mountaineer who finds a remote village after failing to climb K2, is taken in by strangers and promises to build them a school, was also accused of passing off fiction as fact. All three books are great stories, the unravelling of which tells us a great deal about human frailty. Given that her troubles seem to have started with a business deal gone wrong, perhaps Raynor Winn would like to come on my podcast and give her side of the story.
Catch this at The Almeida
Back at one of my favourite theatres, The Almeida, I enjoyed a production of Eugene O’Neill’s final play A Moon for the Misbegotten. Rebecca Fragnell directs, but what really distinguishes it is the superb acting by Michael Shannon and Ruth Wilson in the lead roles. Telling a love story that doesn’t quite connect, they give agonisingly good performances that are well worth seeing.
We are the champions!
The first message of congratulations I received when my team Chelsea became world champions earlier this month came from my childhood friend Jean-Philippe, who was watching in Lille. ‘Bravo Chelsea a bien contré le PSG! Félicitations au vainqueur!’ I have to admit it was very good to see London get one over on Paris so emphatically. What a turnaround it has been for Todd Boehly, whose appointment of Enzo Maresca has turned out to be an inspired one. He illustrates what good recruitment and great management can achieve.
What I’ve been reading
I greatly enjoyed the book Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (beautifully illustrated by Denis Nestor), an account of a woman who retreats to the English countryside during the pandemic and has her life changed by an encounter with a leveret. She ends up sharing her life with this creature, and the story is a magical one about the power of nature and the healing capacity of companionship. An excellent summer read.
James Reed is chairman and chief executive of recruitment firm Reed