There’s no doubt that in recent years university students have had a raw deal. Not least during coronavirus lockdowns when many — including my youngest son — were charged eye-watering tuition fees for the privilege studying back home in their old bedrooms (though, as my boy observed, at least the food was good).
So news that Labour is now jacking up the cost of studying is a further blow. Of course, we’ve come to expect U-turns and broken manifesto pledges from the new Government. But whilst hiking fees by £285 to £9,535 a year is mean-spirited it should also be the trigger for serious reform in the provision of university education.
Not least the need to fast track non-vocational courses, slashing them from three to two years in order to save valuable time, tuition and living costs.
Then, at least, there would be some justification in charging higher fees. Since acquiring a university education would be set against a rigorous pace of study which demanded drive, focus and ambition. The lazy need not apply,
What’s more, a prerequisite daily attendance would more meaningfully prepare students for the world of work. Reducing study to an intensive two year programme is easily achievable. After all, on average full-time degree courses require between 15 and 25 hours of attendance per week.
A two-year degree could deliver the same material – but just in a more focused way. Sure there might be less time for the “university experience” — drinking, socialising and debating the meaning of life over lentil bakes. But that’s life. It’s about making choices.
When I studied for a degree in English literature at a highly regarded university many — many — years ago, tuition amounted to barely more than a few hours a day. Holidays were long and pressure was in short supply — save for final exams. Not least because results of the first two years of study did not contribute to my ultimate degree (shame, because being a swot I netted a prize in my first year — a £30 book token, if you don’t mind).
If course content was accelerated to two years, standards would inevitably rise — especially if you could only go onto the second year of study if you passed the first.
Part of the problem is that we send too many people to university. What should be the province of the academically elite has become the playground of the entitled. With every low rent college and under performing institution now allowed to call itself a university and every mediocre student — whose skills may be far better served in a practical apprentice — declaring they go to “uni”. Meanwhile an abundance of courses elevate the study of Mickey Mouse to high art and serious scholarship.
Yet lamentably Universities UK (UUK) believes the Government should aim for 70% of all young people to continue their education at university after leaving school by 2040. A move which follows Tony Blair’s stated wish 25 years ago that at least 50 per cent of young people under 30 should go to university and which opened the doors for a lowering of standards and a culture of mediocrity.
Making university a right of passage for the academically undeserving isn’t about inclusion. Rather it feeds a culture of vanity, allowing for the pursuit of a degree certificate which is as worthless as the paper it is written on. When really we need to look at other ways to optimise a young person’s skills and interests so that a successful future is more likely to be determined.
Accelerated courses in respected subjects would raise standards, increase competition and restore the battered reputation of university education. Whilst telegraphing to future employers that graduates who seek positions have the drive and ability to learn at a fast pace.
Embarking on a degree course should be both privilated and highly prized. It’s time to make this meaningful with shorter, sharper courses. Labour has already shown university will come at an increased price.
And given their record in duplicity, this cost could well rise. Cutting away the fat to deliver lean and meaningful education is one way of making it a price worth paying.
