Graduates with poor literacy and numeracy skills are undermining English university degrees, international report warns

A traditional three-year degree course is costly and unsuitable for those who have difficulty with the basics, while having students graduate with low skills in these key areas “undermines the currency” of the qualification, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The study, which looks at literacy and numeracy skills in England, concludes that seven per cent of 20 to 34-year-old graduates in England have numeracy skills below level two, while 3.4 per cent have literacy skills below this level – meaning that they struggle to estimate how much petrol is left in a tank from looking at the gauge, or have difficulty understanding instructions on an aspirin bottle. For numeracy, this is worse than in other nations – including Australia, Ireland, Poland, Italy and Spain, the report shows.

Around one-in-five young university graduates can manage basic tasks, but struggle with more complex problems, it adds.

“Those with low basic skills should not normally enter three-year undergraduate programmes, which are both costly and unsuited to the educational needs of those involved, while graduates with poor basic skills undermine the currency of an English university degree.”

These would-be students should be encouraged to take alternative, professional courses that will help to boost their levels of literacy and numeracy, while more needs to be done in universities to help students with intermediate levels in the basics to develop their skills.

It also suggests that preventing universities from graduating students that have low basic skills could raise achievement. The report warns that while England has more young people graduating from university than many other countries, many are not well-prepared for degree study.