Assuming most of its readers are literally 50 shades of grey, the Daily Express has perfected the art of titillation without smut by a linked to A level results. Pictures of fresh-faced girls on the cusp of womanhood in floral summer frocks jumping for joy at getting the results they’d worked so hard for. Wholesome and yet nostalgic, hinting at an English summer, first romances, lazy days and daisy chains, lemonade and tennis. So very John Betjeman, so very Express.
There are so many unfilled university places this year that those desperately hoped for grades won’t be necessary for many students. There are currently more than 4,000 degree courses with vacancies at 18 of the 24 Russell Group universities and more expected on results day next week. Good news for students but perhaps not for universities. The numbers of school leavers applying to higher education are falling as is demand from overseas students.
Tuition fees, the cost of living, the impact of Covid and changes to migration rules that affect foreign students have left many universities teetering on the edge of financial ruin.
But there’s another side to this which is the increasing number of young people taking up apprenticeships or simply deciding against university. Anecdotally, among the young people I know, not one is going to university – several are taking up apprenticeships, others are travelling abroad to work and others are working until they decide what they really want to do. So much more sensible and far more useful than the gap year experience that was, like so many things, over commercialised and simply gave a lot of rather entitled young people an inflated sense of their own importance and insight after a few weeks working in Africa.
Education for its own sake is vital in a civilised, progressive world and it should be available to anyone at any age and from any background. If current trends continue it may be that more people decide to go to university later in life and many who’ve already taken that route are horrified at the slow pace of learning and the lack of commitment from younger students which means lectures are sparsely attended, deadlines often meaningless and a sense of drift rather than an explosion of ideas, intellectual challenge and a thirst for knowledge.
Obviously there are many courses where the work is challenging, expectations high and there’s no room for shirking but many three year degree courses could be compressed into two meaning a year less of student debt, less opportunity to get bored and give up or change courses and a chance to get into the jobs market sooner. Tony Blair’s ambition that 50% of people should go to university was admirable but unfortunately very little was, or has been done for the other 50%. Various apprenticeship schemes have had mixed results, often expensive and too bureaucratic for some employers and abused by others as a cash cow from the taxpayer. The argument for apprenticeships and training to be managed through devolution is compelling. Local employers working with mayors, councils and education providers could see the gaps that need filling, the opportunities available and would be in a position to attract investment with a ready skilled local work force.
If young people themselves are deciding that university is no longer the next step from sixth form then government, business, schools and employers need to seize the opportunity to change the further and higher education market. And the Express will have to rethink its annual photoshoot.
