As long as it’s means-tested by the viability of jobs. When I worked at a Uni, CSI TV shows had caused an overabundance of students on related courses despite there being so few jobs in that industry.
I agree, but to study what ? I think critical thinking should be the main stay of any further education. Sets a solid foundation for learning transferable skills.
Strongly disagree. Only if that doesn’t mean tying themselves into 40 years (!) of inescapable higher tax unless they’re able to front 27k for fees.
Modern apprenticeships will pay you to train in all kinds of fields including STEM and are as equivalent in quality to a university degree. Whereas for arts subjects, literally hiring a one to one tutor and spending 10k on going to talks and conferences is better value for money than a university getting you in the door only to direct your self-study for all but one contact hour a week for three years.
Loads of them should learn a trade, become self employed in the building industry, make a fortune, and build a load of houses!
We don’t need thinkers, we need doers and builders. 7 out of 10 people being educated to degree level is disproportionate to the needs of the nation.
University education is an industry now.
>Seven in ten teenagers should go to university, Tony Blair declares
Says the person who got paid to go to University.
University should be academically hard and financially easy
Yes, let’s further dilute the value of a degree to the point that it’s required for you to get a job as a barista!
Education for eductions sake is a good thing, but at the other side of things, a degree ought to be hard. 50% of the population is below mean intelligence, and having 70% of the population able to achieve a degree means that a degree is very easy to achieve and doesn’t mark someone as having great intellectual skills
I can’t quite figure out why anyone is asking him to declare anything at all. Nobody cares what he has to say.
Less Mickley mouse degrees and try not to stitch up the younger generation with ever increasing perpetual debt via those loans please
I agree that education is important, but university is not for everybody. Some teenagers might do a lot better in vocational training.
Not sure I agree to be honest. 70% of young people with a large debt for a degree that most of them probably won’t use or don’t need.
The attitude that you need a degree to get anywhere in life is just not true. A lot of university grads leave Uni only to get an entry level job they could have got straight out of sixth form or college.
Obviously this isn’t true for some professional or medical occupations. But things like IT, Marketing, Sales, Accounting a degree isn’t at all mandatory.
I’d only recommend Uni to those that love education, want to get out of their parents house and enjoy a great social life, or those that know exactly what career they want where a degree is mandatory.
Thanks again Tony for an opinion no one asked you about.
We are more interested in the unnecessary war you got the UK into and why you have not gone to prison because of it. We are all ears.
No, 70% of students are not cut out for university and a diversity of post-secondary options is needed, along with an easier path into the workforce than a degree. We need people to be educated but that should mean people receiving that by the time they leave school, further and higher education should then build upon that. People should go to university when it is right for them, not because we have made it a requirement to get even a basic job in many industries.
He gonna foot the bill? Because I know 7 in 10 who can’t.
I wouldn’t take any advice on education from the guy that single handedly destroyed the value of a degree by getting everyone to go do a degree in something/anything.
And then one day in the future sometime they said, “where are all the tradesmen?”
Jesus Christ NO.
Anyone with any direct experience in higher ed knows that at best half of the current students are suited for university. And it has nothing to do with ability or intelligence: they just aren’t ready for it.
Maturity, an understanding of why certain skills are important to master, and a real engagement with the learning process are necessary to get anything out of university at all. Simply throwing more kids into the higher ed mill isn’t going to do ANYONE in the system any good. The profs will be strung out, the administration will continue to bloat, more university buildings will be constructed for lecture halls and offices which means even more stress on the budget, more infrastructure to maintain…
If 70% of students need additional education beyond compulsory schooling, then make compulsory schooling longer and THAT qualification will be appropriate for employment. Forcing 70% of students into a privatized education system is ridiculous.
Presumably leaving the 3 in 10 to do the mindless but important stuff that we all rely on.
Says the prick who brought in tuition fees whilst getting his own degree for free
Sure
Let’s devalue the worth of a degree even further while increasing the costs.
Ffs it was the 50% target that brought us tuition fees in the first place and now this twat wants to make it worse?
A degree should be hard to achieve and actually worth something. The real problem we have in this country is about inequality.
All focus from idiots like Blair is on raising up the disadvantaged but intelligent/able/gifted which is great and all but misses an important aspect of how this needs to work.
We need to allow the *advantaged but dim* to fail. To be rejected from uni as not up to snuff freeing up places for those able to achieve. But all too many rich and middle class parents are unable to accept that their precious child is just a bit stupid.
Yes raise up the poor but gifted, *and let the rich but dumb fall!*
Obviously my view may be different, but from someone who is currently in university, I don’t think I know more than a handful of people from school who didn’t go to uni. Pretty much everyone, even my friends who went to college rather than sixth form are now at uni.
It’s a stupid idea. It’s well established that the value of degrees is only maintained when no more than a third of the population have them, so all this achieves is a mountain of debt for the majority who didn’t need a degree in the first place.
University is the biggest con-job in history. It is a tax on aspirations.
A lot of people that graduate still don’t have the skills to do the job they train to do.
Three months work experience is worth three years classroom experience.
Yes, there are academic subjects that should require degrees but for the vast majority of vocational courses, they would most likely be better done in the field. Accountancy, Journalism, Languages, Computer Languages, Music, Arts…
50 thousand quid and three years of your life is a ridiculous amount of money and time to spend on something that does not adequately prepare you for the workforce.
I don’t know what the answer is, but our whole philosophy on what Uni is and how higher education works needs to be addressed before we encourage more and more people to do it.
There is a lot to be said about the loan system and the amount graduates earn too…
The most frustrating thing for me is that even though I strongly believe university is ridiculous, it’s still something I will need to encourage my children to do.
Whenever university comes up you immediately get a whole bunch of people coming out the woodwork who haven’t been to uni harping on. :/
A university education is not just beneficial for the economy/ job prospects. It creates a more articulate, cultured and aware populace. something like ‘history of art’ leads to more beautiful gardens, buildings, home decor, etc Sociology leads to a more culturally sensitive and politically active population
A lot of medical schools, computer science departments, biomed and chemistry faculties rely on the funding that humanity/arts students bring to the university.
Also, university is a great chance for self development for the last formative period of a lot of young people’s lives. Being placed in large cities with lots of people of the same age leads to greater self development, maturity and change (and fun of course). Places like Sheffield, Lancaster, Nottingham would be literal shitholes if it wasn’t for the huge income boost students bring.
The system isn’t perfect though. Some unis take the piss with not enough contact hours or academic challenge. Tuition fees are ridiculously high and so many people have a degree that students feel obligated to go to uni to be able to compete in the job market.
Also, some vocational occupations such as nursing or policing have now become degree programs and (anecdotally) have forgot to teach the most basic skills of the profession.
I don’t agree with this. Academia should be difficult, and therefore not for everyone, and not even for the majority.
HOWEVER, I absolutely believe in further education for all. I’d love to see colleges given way more prominence for adult learners and school leavers.
too many people go to university thanks to this man as is, can someone tell him to go back to whatever hole he’s been sat in.
Higher and further education? Yes but not 7/10 people. University as we know it? No.
Even reading these comments, the British snobbery about university and education shines through, Nothing wrong with a trade, nothing wrong with going to a poly.
How many in ten think Tony Blair should have gone to prison
Yes let’s waste even more people’s time on a course that they won’t use and that will get them I to 30k debt!
I’ve got an idea. How about actually giving kids the time and information they need time pick a career that they like early on so that they can have a proper path set out rather than going to uni for a degree in modern art just to become a manager in tesco.
31 comments
Bypass paywall link:
https://archive.ph/ql7Sx
As long as it’s means-tested by the viability of jobs. When I worked at a Uni, CSI TV shows had caused an overabundance of students on related courses despite there being so few jobs in that industry.
I agree, but to study what ? I think critical thinking should be the main stay of any further education. Sets a solid foundation for learning transferable skills.
Strongly disagree. Only if that doesn’t mean tying themselves into 40 years (!) of inescapable higher tax unless they’re able to front 27k for fees.
Modern apprenticeships will pay you to train in all kinds of fields including STEM and are as equivalent in quality to a university degree. Whereas for arts subjects, literally hiring a one to one tutor and spending 10k on going to talks and conferences is better value for money than a university getting you in the door only to direct your self-study for all but one contact hour a week for three years.
Loads of them should learn a trade, become self employed in the building industry, make a fortune, and build a load of houses!
We don’t need thinkers, we need doers and builders. 7 out of 10 people being educated to degree level is disproportionate to the needs of the nation.
University education is an industry now.
>Seven in ten teenagers should go to university, Tony Blair declares
Says the person who got paid to go to University.
University should be academically hard and financially easy
Yes, let’s further dilute the value of a degree to the point that it’s required for you to get a job as a barista!
Education for eductions sake is a good thing, but at the other side of things, a degree ought to be hard. 50% of the population is below mean intelligence, and having 70% of the population able to achieve a degree means that a degree is very easy to achieve and doesn’t mark someone as having great intellectual skills
I can’t quite figure out why anyone is asking him to declare anything at all. Nobody cares what he has to say.
Less Mickley mouse degrees and try not to stitch up the younger generation with ever increasing perpetual debt via those loans please
I agree that education is important, but university is not for everybody. Some teenagers might do a lot better in vocational training.
Not sure I agree to be honest. 70% of young people with a large debt for a degree that most of them probably won’t use or don’t need.
The attitude that you need a degree to get anywhere in life is just not true. A lot of university grads leave Uni only to get an entry level job they could have got straight out of sixth form or college.
Obviously this isn’t true for some professional or medical occupations. But things like IT, Marketing, Sales, Accounting a degree isn’t at all mandatory.
I’d only recommend Uni to those that love education, want to get out of their parents house and enjoy a great social life, or those that know exactly what career they want where a degree is mandatory.
Thanks again Tony for an opinion no one asked you about.
We are more interested in the unnecessary war you got the UK into and why you have not gone to prison because of it. We are all ears.
No, 70% of students are not cut out for university and a diversity of post-secondary options is needed, along with an easier path into the workforce than a degree. We need people to be educated but that should mean people receiving that by the time they leave school, further and higher education should then build upon that. People should go to university when it is right for them, not because we have made it a requirement to get even a basic job in many industries.
He gonna foot the bill? Because I know 7 in 10 who can’t.
I wouldn’t take any advice on education from the guy that single handedly destroyed the value of a degree by getting everyone to go do a degree in something/anything.
And then one day in the future sometime they said, “where are all the tradesmen?”
Jesus Christ NO.
Anyone with any direct experience in higher ed knows that at best half of the current students are suited for university. And it has nothing to do with ability or intelligence: they just aren’t ready for it.
Maturity, an understanding of why certain skills are important to master, and a real engagement with the learning process are necessary to get anything out of university at all. Simply throwing more kids into the higher ed mill isn’t going to do ANYONE in the system any good. The profs will be strung out, the administration will continue to bloat, more university buildings will be constructed for lecture halls and offices which means even more stress on the budget, more infrastructure to maintain…
If 70% of students need additional education beyond compulsory schooling, then make compulsory schooling longer and THAT qualification will be appropriate for employment. Forcing 70% of students into a privatized education system is ridiculous.
Presumably leaving the 3 in 10 to do the mindless but important stuff that we all rely on.
Says the prick who brought in tuition fees whilst getting his own degree for free
Sure
Let’s devalue the worth of a degree even further while increasing the costs.
Ffs it was the 50% target that brought us tuition fees in the first place and now this twat wants to make it worse?
A degree should be hard to achieve and actually worth something. The real problem we have in this country is about inequality.
All focus from idiots like Blair is on raising up the disadvantaged but intelligent/able/gifted which is great and all but misses an important aspect of how this needs to work.
We need to allow the *advantaged but dim* to fail. To be rejected from uni as not up to snuff freeing up places for those able to achieve. But all too many rich and middle class parents are unable to accept that their precious child is just a bit stupid.
Yes raise up the poor but gifted, *and let the rich but dumb fall!*
Obviously my view may be different, but from someone who is currently in university, I don’t think I know more than a handful of people from school who didn’t go to uni. Pretty much everyone, even my friends who went to college rather than sixth form are now at uni.
It’s a stupid idea. It’s well established that the value of degrees is only maintained when no more than a third of the population have them, so all this achieves is a mountain of debt for the majority who didn’t need a degree in the first place.
University is the biggest con-job in history. It is a tax on aspirations.
A lot of people that graduate still don’t have the skills to do the job they train to do.
Three months work experience is worth three years classroom experience.
Yes, there are academic subjects that should require degrees but for the vast majority of vocational courses, they would most likely be better done in the field. Accountancy, Journalism, Languages, Computer Languages, Music, Arts…
50 thousand quid and three years of your life is a ridiculous amount of money and time to spend on something that does not adequately prepare you for the workforce.
I don’t know what the answer is, but our whole philosophy on what Uni is and how higher education works needs to be addressed before we encourage more and more people to do it.
There is a lot to be said about the loan system and the amount graduates earn too…
The most frustrating thing for me is that even though I strongly believe university is ridiculous, it’s still something I will need to encourage my children to do.
Whenever university comes up you immediately get a whole bunch of people coming out the woodwork who haven’t been to uni harping on. :/
A university education is not just beneficial for the economy/ job prospects. It creates a more articulate, cultured and aware populace. something like ‘history of art’ leads to more beautiful gardens, buildings, home decor, etc Sociology leads to a more culturally sensitive and politically active population
A lot of medical schools, computer science departments, biomed and chemistry faculties rely on the funding that humanity/arts students bring to the university.
Also, university is a great chance for self development for the last formative period of a lot of young people’s lives. Being placed in large cities with lots of people of the same age leads to greater self development, maturity and change (and fun of course). Places like Sheffield, Lancaster, Nottingham would be literal shitholes if it wasn’t for the huge income boost students bring.
The system isn’t perfect though. Some unis take the piss with not enough contact hours or academic challenge. Tuition fees are ridiculously high and so many people have a degree that students feel obligated to go to uni to be able to compete in the job market.
Also, some vocational occupations such as nursing or policing have now become degree programs and (anecdotally) have forgot to teach the most basic skills of the profession.
I don’t agree with this. Academia should be difficult, and therefore not for everyone, and not even for the majority.
HOWEVER, I absolutely believe in further education for all. I’d love to see colleges given way more prominence for adult learners and school leavers.
too many people go to university thanks to this man as is, can someone tell him to go back to whatever hole he’s been sat in.
Higher and further education? Yes but not 7/10 people. University as we know it? No.
Even reading these comments, the British snobbery about university and education shines through, Nothing wrong with a trade, nothing wrong with going to a poly.
How many in ten think Tony Blair should have gone to prison
Yes let’s waste even more people’s time on a course that they won’t use and that will get them I to 30k debt!
I’ve got an idea. How about actually giving kids the time and information they need time pick a career that they like early on so that they can have a proper path set out rather than going to uni for a degree in modern art just to become a manager in tesco.
It’s radical but it just might work.