With the announcement that graduate unemployment has risen once again, we ask whether a university degree costing £40,000 of debt is a worthwhile accolade when it won’t even guarantee you a job. Would today’s school-leavers be better off going straight into work or practical apprenticeships rather than aiming for higher education?
The government has now unveiled its plans to raise tuition fees to a potential £9000, devastating students across the country, including many prospective applicants who may no longer be able to apply to university at all. We examine their decision and the impact it will have, on universities, students and the coalition government itself.
Is university in the UK really accessible to all? We examine the results of recent studies into the numbers of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds being accepted to top universities and consider potential ways of solving this perpetual problem.
The long-awaited Browne Review of Higher Education and Student Funding has finally been published. We examine its implications, both short-term in terms of crippling financial strain for students and long-term for the country at large. The government may be desperately trying to solve an enormous debt problem, but fears are rising that adopting Browne’s recommendations would create much deeper issues for our society and economy in the long-run.
As the coalition government and the country wait for the publication of Lord Browne’s imminent report on higher education funding, the mood is one of tense expectation and anxiety. The signals from the government over the past months have not only indicated a grim resolve to hike tuition fees to dizzying levels, but also the rumbling tremors of an approaching storm between the uneasy members of the allied governing parties. But what will the results mean for students, for education, and for our society at large?
