The Yorkshire Post Says: Is going to university really value for money?

Universities are no different to other sectors of the economy anxiously awaiting clarity on Brexit '“ it's not their fault that both the Tories and Labour are hopelessly split on the implementation of this totemic issue.
Is university really worth it?Is university really worth it?
Is university really worth it?

Yet this lack of readiness should not detract from a wider debate about the role, and status, of higher education in Britain.

This is borne out by the rise in the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are now studying degree courses. The Tories – and their one-time Lib Dem coalition colleagues – will argue that this trend more than vindicates the controversial decision to raise tuition fees to £9,000 a year alongside certain caveats regarding repayment.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However there does need, at some point, to be greater scrutiny of universities, whether students are receiving value for money and if the degree courses on offer sufficiently reflect the country’s changing priorities from an economic standpoint.

Not only do young people appear to be paying for the privilege of having even less one-to-one tuition with top academics, but anecdotal evidence suggests that many of the less arduous or academic qualifications on offer do not justify elongated three-year courses and the resulting cost to under-graduates and the public purse alike.

Universities should be a byword for excellence. Yet while their unfettered expansion under Tony Blair has created new opportunities for many, there are, nevertheless, many youngsters giving up the chance of solid technical education – or an apprenticeship – for degree courses that not only have limited value to employers, but do little to prepare the students concerned for life in the real world.

That cannot be right, or sustainable, can it? As such, the only universities that should have anything to fear from such an academic exercise are those that are not making the grade.