Every year, that midsummer period inundates my feed with images of sprightly young graduates being turned out into the world of work. But what kind of world is it? Are they being turned out into a world of opportunity and flourishing, or into a coldness from which many will seek to escape back into the specious comfort of higher education? Having graduated myself recently, the answer is clearer than ever. I’ve been searching for evidence to back up my anecdotal hunch that many graduates are hurtling “over the top” into a reality that’ll mow down hopes and dreams like a machine gun.
Today, more than half of us go to university. In the 1990s, this was more like a quarter, and before that, even less. This immediately sets my alarm bells going because university is supposed to elevate people, but if everyone’s going, the distinction of going is worn down. After all, would you still want a Birkin bag if every woman and her dog had one? Hermès intentionally makes far fewer Birkins than there are willing buyers, to maintain a scarcity which protects the product’s distinction. Universities? Not so much.
Over the years I spent at my Russell Group university, I learned, one conversation at a time, that I had come many decades too late for a smooth ride to the bakelite world of an American dream. People always had diverse reasons for going to university. Today, these also include dodging the dole, because everyone else goes and, for lack of an alternative path, that’s clear to see. As if life were full of clear paths, not for me, I’ll say that much for free.
The lack of genuine intellectual interest beyond the mandated course of study was also telling. Many student societies are a thinly veiled excuse to drink. Far too often, the subject matter of the society feels like a superficial social opening. I’m no prude, or angel saint for that matter. Social drinking was always a highlight of life at my University, but today, the club is King, the backyard spliff the Lord Privy Seal and the bank of mum and dad the Lord Chancellor.
But to hell with the shenanigans, so long as the young sprites prance off into a prosperous sunshine? After all, going to university means you earn a fair bit more money? Well, not anymore. In the 1960s, graduates earned at least 80% more than their less educated peers. That advantage has steadily shrunk to 36%1. Look at the fine print, and it gets worse. An IFS study from 2020 finds twenty-nine-year-old men who enrolled at university earning 26%2 more than their less educated peers. When accounting for prior attainment, family wealth, location, etc., that gap narrows to 6%. I.e the difference if one of two identical twins with the same background went to university.
So when we laud the income uplift of university, is it because dad’s friend has a cushy job lined up for me when I graduate (he doesn’t), or is it the education itself? The numbers increasingly suggest the former, not exactly social mobility if you’ve got helpful parents. In other words, we’re conditioning a vast cohort of young graduates to think they’re entitled to prosperity and power, even the ones without helpful parents or breakthrough talent. So who’s feeding the illusion?
Sixth Form tutors across the country harangue their A-Level students to enrol because promotion and pay rises often depend on how many students they shuffle into university. We can hardly blame them when they’re merely nibbling at the incentive laid out for them, many of them selling their students down the water in the process. Meanwhile, lobbyists like UniversitiesUK are paid by institutions to justify the ballooning sector. They’re an intelligent bunch who doubtless understand the sliding utility of university, but are more than happy to take credit for positive outcomes that were actually won by excellent secondary schools and helpful parents. If Westminster is none the wiser and the money keeps flowing, they’ve done their job.
The writing is already on the wall for UK graduates, and the trajectory is clear: unemployment rates for graduates under 64 rose by 46%3 between 2019 and 2024 alone. Reputable institutions like King’s College London are telling graduates they “shouldn’t feel bad” about claiming benefits with the aplomb of a soldier offing his wounded horse. It makes you wonder if we ride institutions into prosperous careers, or if they ride us to justify their existence.
Aside from time and money wasted at university, this oversupply of graduates makes society’s most powerful and prosperous positions more fought over than ever. Competition breeds merit, but it also breeds division and destruction. Elite overpopulation means aspirants need to go to greater lengths to secure those nation-driving positions in our society. Many will inevitably rise to the challenge; power has that indelible allure. This may not be such a good thing if we start sailing through a field of ice while five captains fight viciously over the ship’s wheel.
Philipp Andreewitch is a recent Electrical and Electronics Engineering graduate from the University of Newcastle. He has engaged in a range of freedom-oriented programmes across Westminster and beyond. He regularly researches and writes on the cost of Britain’s university policies.
