Huge increase in number of graduates 'bad for UK economy'

[Richdog]

Interesting article. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2...ase-in-number-of-graduates-bad-for-uk-economy

I of course understand the value of a good degree in a subject that nets you a job in the field that you have your heart set on working in.

However, I have watched people for years in the UK going to university, doing some mickey-mouse degree they weren't really interested in, ending up with tens of thousands of debt, all to simply say they have a degree because that is the "minimum level" that many employers consider, even in jobs where nowhere near degree-level knowledge is required.

What real value does that token degree add in the current market, when fresh graduates are then also often commonly and bizarrely refused a job for 'not having any experience'? Catch 22, it seems.

What I think it is doing is pushing a backwards mentality where if for whatever reason you don't have a Bachelors degree then you have less value to the job market, and in the end all it will do is create such a sea of generic mediocrity that only the best degrees from the best universities get recognition. That simply isn't true or fair, and I think it has degraded and distorted the value of degrees themselves.

 

[scorza]

Funny I remember plenty of non-experts pointing this out when Tony Blair started the dash for grads.

 

[Freakbro]

Funny I remember plenty of non-experts pointing this out when Tony Blair started the dash for grads.

Who were they? (genuine question)

The problem I see is that it was a laudible idea to raise the educational level of the nation and get more people into University (Arbitrary numbers like 50% never make sense though) but that was the point, it was supposed to raise the educational level, not lower the bar to enable the 50% to get in!

So all they have done is devalue the 'degree', not increased the educational standard and lumbered 50% of kids with huge debts

Good idea.....terrible implementation.

 

[RoboCod]

Not read the article but whilst it's bad for the economy as more people will be in debt, I imagine it will also be bad that many more people will be sat around with a high sense of entitlement yet jobless at the same time. Fewer people working as labourers/meanial jobs (and thus greater reliance on immigrants who are actually willing to get their hands dirty and sending their money outside the country).

Meanwhile, more and more precious gypsys populate the country.

 

[Tefal]

Who were they? (genuine question)

The problem I see is that it was a laudible idea to raise the educational level of the nation and get more people into University (Arbitrary numbers like 50% never make sense though) but that was the point, it was supposed to raise the educational level, not lower the bar to enable the 50% to get in!

So all they have done is devalue the 'degree', not increased the educational standard and lumbered 50% of kids with huge debts

Good idea.....terrible implementation.

whenever you set a target, people will find the easiest way of achieving that target, rather than doing what iot was intended.

 

[UTmaniac]

All set up so that because graduates are in debt, they will accept what should be unreasonable demands from employer?

 

[Tefal]

All set up so that because graduates are in debt, they will accept what should be unreasonable demands from employer?

not at all as they dont ever have to pay that debt back unless they earn over X amount.

if anything they can bum around unemployed untill the debt experires.

 

[Sargatanas2511]

It is often a catch 22. I had that when I finished my degree to find that no-one would take me on because I had no relevant experience. So even though they ask for a degree, they want both.

 

[Tefal]

It is often a catch 22. I had that when I finished my degree to find that no-one would take me on because I had no relevant experience. So even though they ask for a degree, they want both.

thats why a lot of companies are doing degrees in house through advanced/higher apprenticeships now.

 

[PlacidCasual]

On the upside it has produced a large supply of bodies for rent a mob outfits like Momentum.

In all seriousness though many smart kids are going into apprenticeships our company scheme is inundated every year. My parents both worked in higher and further education retiring in the early noughties and they were appalled by the changes adult education wrought by New Labour. Poly's became factory farms for low quality business and IT courses and FE was slowly starved of it's vocational aspect.

 

[Sargatanas2511]

thats why a lot of companies are doing degrees in house through advanced/higher apprenticeships now.

My problem was that I didn't do my degree until my late 20's and while I had worked before I finished it, none of it was relevant to the field my degree was in so it was pretty much like starting again.

 

[scorza]

Who were they? (genuine question)

People on this forum (not me btw).

 

[Deleted member 77746]

It's all about the money. From top to bottom.

 

[Dj_Jestar]

Surprising absolutely no one.

Except graduates.

 

[Freakbro]

Poly's became factory farms for low quality business and IT courses and FE was slowly starved of it's vocational aspect.

Yeah, I'd forgotten about the polytechnic change and the decimating of the FE vocational/practical courses as well, it was a disaster to our educational system when they just focussed on academia.

 

[=XDC=FluphyBunny]

The blinkered focus on academia is ridiculous. Certainly when I was at school anything practical was barely even touched upon.

 

[Semple]

That simply isn't true or fair, and I think it has degraded and distorted the value of degrees themselves.

Whilst i fully agree with your points, the last statement is a bit generalising.

Any degrees in STEM subjects will certainly not get degraded/distorted just because the pool of "people with a degree" grows.

 

[Richdog]

Whilst i fully agree with your points, the last statement is a bit generalising.

Any degrees in STEM subjects will certainly not get degraded/distorted just because the pool of "people with a degree" grows.

Of course I was generalising, that should be rather clear. The point was that as more and more people get a degree of little value, it will, again speaking generally, reduce the impact of having a degree for many students and employers.

 

[Tunney]

On the upside it has produced a large supply of bodies for rent a mob outfits like Momentum.

Young voters backed Owen Smith 55 to 45 in the recent Labour leadership election. Momentum is full of old farts.

The problem with degrees isn't that they don't boost the economy (they do!) but they're poor value for money for some graduates. Even people in jobs that don't require degrees are likely to benefit from either the skills or the network they gained at university. The Consevatives chose to defund our universities. It's the recent changes in university fees that makes a degree poor value for money for some people.

 

[Diagro]

I got a degree because i actually required one.
Some got one because they had nothing else to do and it didnt cost them anything, not to mention the ones who went for the "fun"