00:00For many, university has long been seen as a route to better pay, broader choices and a more secure future.
00:06But that calculation is becoming harder.
00:09Students are facing rent, food and travel costs while studying, and many are taking paid work alongside their courses.
00:16At the same time, some graduates are leaving university into a jobs market where entry-level roles are more competitive
00:24and employers are changing what they look for.
00:27There is no doubt that university, compared to a generation ago, I'm talking 25, 30 years ago, it certainly doesn't
00:34appear to have the same sort of value as it once did.
00:37Now, that's due to a number of reasons.
00:39The graduate market has increased, if you like.
00:43There are more students coming out of university.
00:45Who do you blame?
00:46Well, Tony Blair was a sort of great believer in education, came to power in 1997, so almost 30 years
00:51ago,
00:51and publicly proclaimed that they wanted half the young people of that age going to university.
00:59And indeed, universities took him up on the challenge and expanded as a consequence.
01:02So you have universities which are now much more important to local economies,
01:07because, of course, the employment they've produced in terms of the lecturers and the support staff,
01:13but also, of course, the holes of ancillary functions, which is great.
01:19And, of course, I'll come back to that in a couple of moments, because, of course, should universities disappear,
01:24and, of course, there have been question marks over them for the last number of years due to funding cuts,
01:28that, of course, that could be a big blow to local economies.
01:31But in terms of students in general, it's a bit difficult to know how to interpret this,
01:37because, of course, students still get grants, that there should be no necessary need for them to sort of have
01:43to sort of work,
01:44but many of them perhaps do feel that that is useful to be in employment.
01:48And, of course, that will stand them in good stead for when they go into what is becoming a very
01:52difficult employment market,
01:53and it's going to become even more so, I suspect, as a consequence of business is really thinning to the
01:58pain of cost of living crisis,
02:00which is being exacerbated by the sort of the war in Iran and the sort of increase in the cost
02:05of oil and lots of other things,
02:07which, of course, are going to feed through the sort of the inflationary cycle and cost us a lot of
02:11money in the sort of the process.
02:13The financial pressure starts before graduation.
02:16Tuition fees can be covered by loans, but living costs are often the day-to-day problem for students and
02:22their families.
02:23Rent, bills, transport and food vary widely across the country,
02:26but the strain is being felt well beyond the biggest cities.
02:31Surveys suggest many students are working during turn time,
02:34cutting back or relying on extra support to get through their courses.
02:38The jobs market adds another layer to the decision.
02:41Official figures show graduates are more likely to be in work than non-graduates,
02:46and many degree holders continue to benefit over their working lives.
02:50But the path from course to career is not guaranteed.
02:53Graduate vacancies have fallen in parts of the market,
02:56applications are high, and some employers are shifting towards skill-based hiring.
03:02Artificial intelligence is also changing early career work,
03:06particularly tasks once given to junior staff.
03:09So where does it take us in terms of education?
03:12Well, of course, the view always was that we needed a much more intelligent workforce,
03:18or one that was trained in particular things, and to use their brain.
03:23But of course, the difficulty is that the things that you're trained in today may be out of date in
03:28the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years.
03:31But of course, what we've also got allied to all of that is the very rapid increase of AI,
03:36which of course is going to make an awful lot more jobs redundant.
03:39And so my view from what I'm hearing from employers is that what's really important for the young people they
03:47employ out of university,
03:48or wherever they get them, and indeed, just to add a footnote,
03:52they don't necessarily have to come from a university.
03:54That can be as a consequence of apprenticeships,
03:57which I've seen as a really valuable method of getting into the workforce,
04:00although universities do apprenticeships.
04:02But what the employers want are those who have ingenuity, creativity,
04:09and an ability, if you like, to think outside the boxes.
04:12So teaching people how to put square pegs and square holes is all well and good,
04:16but they perhaps want to think about people who can do different things with the pegs,
04:20and create new circumstances, whatever that might be.
04:23And indeed, I can attest to this, the world I grew up in, the 1970s,
04:28is very different as a consequence of the ability to use AI and computers in general,
04:36to what existed certainly 50 years ago.
04:39And of course, that's the whole difficulty,
04:42projecting what the world will look like in another generation or so,
04:45and beyond, is extremely difficult, and who knows where we'll be.
04:48For students, the decision is becoming more practical and personal.
04:54The value of a degree may depend on the subject, the costs, the support available,
04:58work experience, and the strength of local and national job markets.
05:03Universities, employers, and governments are likely to face more pressure
05:06to show how higher education leads to real opportunities following graduation.
05:12Universities, employers, and some other Webcast Stats,
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05:13Stats
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