OVER HALF OF UK GRADUATES STUCK IN NON-GRADUATE JOBS – YET GREEDY UNIVERSITIES CONTINUE TO BOOST STUDENT INTAKE
Britain is failing to create enough high-skilled jobs for its growing population of university graduates – and could be heading for a new graduate jobs crisis as graduate debt soars and the number of young people enrolling at university hits a record high this year following the removal of a cap on student numbers.
In a new report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), politicians and universities are being urgently asked to address the ‘mismatch’ between the number of university leavers and the jobs appropriate to their skills. The problem has left the UK with more than half of its graduates in non-graduate jobs, one of the highest rates in Europe.
The CIPD – the trade group for the human resources sector – said graduate over-qualification has reached “saturation point” and is squeezing lower qualified workers out of jobs, and too many degrees were being “wasted” as graduates are forced to take jobs that don’t require a degree.
CIPD chief executive Peter Cheese challenged the logic of increasing the number of university places without paying attention to the number of graduate jobs available, echoing discussion that regularly takes place among readers of Graduate Fog. He also appeared to question the removal of the cap on student numbers, which came into effect this summer (something Graduate Fog has concerns about too). Cheese said:
“The assumption that we will transition to a more productive, higher-value, higher-skilled economy just by increasing the conveyor belt of graduates is proven to be flawed.
“Simply increasing the qualification level of individuals going into a job does not typically result in the skill required to do the job being enhanced — in many cases that skills premium, if it exists at all, is simply wasted. This situation is unsustainable given that the government estimates that 45% of university graduates will not earn enough to repay their student loans.”
Graduate over-qualification appears to be a particular problem for the UK. The report’s authors said the UK has the second highest graduation rate in the OECD group of mainly advanced economies, at 54%, with only Iceland having a higher rate. By comparison, Germany has a graduation rate of just 31%.
* ARE YOU A GRADUATE DOING A NON-GRADUATE JOB?
Struggling to make your degree ‘pay off’? Tell us what you’re doing, how you feel about it – and what plans you have to find a job more suited to your qualifications. We’ll do our best to help you out with advice and support!
In a word Yes.
It would be quite possible for me to do what I am doing now straight from school. Indeed some have and their years of real world experience counts for far more than my academic achievements which I am actually rather dismissive of now. I might feel differently in a coupe of years though?
That said young people do have to take some personal responsibility for themselves in weighing up whether a degree in Sociology or American Studies is worth it under £9k fees. It is easy to blame your school, your university and “the system” but ultimately the decision to go to university is your and yours alone.
In purely economic terms I believe some
people would be better signing on the dole straight from school rather than spending thousands on a degree that employers don’t respect.
Just get the best A’Level grades you can achieve and enter the world of work. If you want to take a degree in a meaningless subject like English, History or Politics, you can always register on a part-time degree. Otherwise, you are wasting your time….£50K in debt is a lot unless you have rich parents.
This situation has been going on for many years. It’s not rocket science – as the number of graduates rises year on year, the value of their degrees decline through the sheer number of graduates for hire in the job marketplace. This process started back in the early ’90s, when higher education expanded, polytechnics became new universities and entry to degree courses became possible via non-traditional routes, such as Access courses.
Before then an arts or social science degree actually meant something in the job market. But then higher education became an expanding industry, one that needs a constant supply of willing undergraduates to believe in the dream of higher education. Money is needed by universities from new students via loans to fund plush university campuses and hence reinforce the dream. According to a recent Observer article, universities are now building their own overpriced luxury student accommodation to profit from student expansion (rather than providing subsidised accommodation).
The educational mantra is go to ‘uni’ to get a better paid job. At the same time manual trades and occupations, (plumbers, bricklayers, gardeners) accessed via vocational courses and apprenticeships have been shunned and looked down on, creating a vast oversupply of graduates with high expectations and bitter disappointments. Compare this to Germany, for example, which has far more respect for apprenticeships and non-graduate jobs. It’s a national scandal.
The universities are partly to blame. It’s in their vested interest to get ‘bums on seats’ and sell their courses as the route to a high-flying future. But once you graduate they wash their ands of you, shrugging their corporate shoulders, and citing stats on the average graduate salary being some ridiculously high number that only Oxbridge-educated barristers or hedge fund managers will ever reach.
Sorry if I sound a bit weary and cynical. I’ve been to four universities (BA, PG Dip, MA, MA), but still find – seriously – my City & Guilds day release course in Amenity Horticulture more useful when job hunting than years at ‘uni’.
My advice? Get a vocation with on-the-job-training or go to night school to get a degree for self-interest and development whilst working to avoid the debt – and the heartbreak.
@ Ian
Sadly,the working and lower middle-classes have still not got the message. Why? Most parents never attended university due to scolarities in below-par educational establishments.
For middle and upper-classes, there was always the prospect of entering papa’s firm or via some form of business connection even if you were not academically able but received a ‘posh’, private schooling….
The class system is alive and well in England and Wales.
Got a first in physics this summer but it looks like I will need further learning in order to get anything really decent (such as a few programming languages). Also a lot of the graduate schemes seem like a lot of work for little in return. Looking at the civil service the graduate programme is three years long and the pay isnt that fantastic especially for living in London. Well paid finance roles, again out of reach unless I learn programming languages or go to a target uni for postgrad which is looking expensive.
Recently checked my old university (mid-ranking, not an ex-poly) in Clearing, it has reduced entry standards to 200 UCAS Tariff Points in most subjects! That’s 2 B grades in 2 A ‘Levels with vacancies across the board except Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing! In last year’s glossy prospectus, they were asking for ABC/BBB at A ‘Level for a place in Humanities/Social Sciences! It makes an absolute mockery of their entry requirements! As a former student, I contacted them and told them that they were reducing the reputation of the University by lowering standards. They said in an email it was customary during Clearing to lower entry standards and I should take it with the office of the vice-chancellor! When will the university system explode?
Peter, I didn’t go through UCAS when I went to university. I waiting for clearing and practically every course was available anyway at rock bottom grades. I hope the system does explode.
The lack of funding for serious masters students is disgusting. People cannot get on. The postgraduate loan means you are taxed at 15%.
I’m struggling with the loss of status. When I was employed there were consequences if my e-mails were simply ignored. Now I am unemployed there is no consequence to ignoring an e-mail from me.
@ Overqualified
Yes, worse is to be on the same par as 16 year olds with 1 or 2 GCSEs doing the same job and on the same pay…..and going nowhere!
and with £40K debt!
I’ve just applied for a job that pays 17,601 p/a. It is comically low wage when you take off transport. I know school leavers on more.
The student debt does not worry me in the sense that it isn’t “real” debt. I am more bothered by the fact that those that got a job straight after A-levels have three years of earning money and gaining experience. Something employers actually respect.
If only we could start again!
My degree was certainly a waste of time. I graduated with a 2:1 in law and I’ve worked minimum wage in cafe nero for the past year.
I think in my employers eyes academic achievement really doesn’t count for much at all, and you can hardly blame them. They want someone up to the mark with experience in the advertised role. A degree offers none of this.
Besides jobs that require specific, in depth knowledge, experience wins over degree every time. Higher education is, by and large, a scam, and I personally think it’s a ‘knowing’ scam on the universities behalf too. They know, or at least have very strong reason to believe, that the courses they offer carry minimum weight in employment, but they thrive on feared induced students reliably signing up, year after year, because they believe that if it’s hard to get a job with a degree, it must be even harder to get one without.