It’s that time of year at universities around the country when the views of the students are sought. Which has inspired me to finally crystalise the below thoughts…
Having been fortunate enough to attend two universities ranked in the world’s top 100, you would think I might be a passionate defender of a university education. I am, I hope, aware of just how fortunate I am to have been able to make this choice in my life and I would make the same choices again were I to be able to rewind the clock. However, the reasons why I would do so should at least make higher education institutions think, and possibly cringe.
At Durham, I learnt to live independently, I met many friends, I played a lot of sport and I had a great time growing up. Incidentally, I did just enough work to get a good degree, usually in complete absence of any academic guidance from the faculty. Not coincidentally, on the reputation of the degree and my extra curricular interests, I secured a well-paid job. At Cambridge, I have learnt how to teach; however, the impact of the school mentors who have trained me and my fellow students that were also enticed by the reputation of the university have significantly outweighed the impact of the course itself. With a couple of notable exceptions at both institutions, the quality of the teaching has been shocking. But of course the majority of the ‘teachers’ are not at universities to teach just as many students are not at university to study their subject; hardly a perfect symbiosis.
I attended a debate at the Union Society when I first arrived here asking whether university was a wise investment (the full debate is here for anyone with an hour to spare – although don’t watch the questions unless you want to be reassured that stupid people can get into Cambridge). Of course, the fifteen year gap between my university experiences has heralded the advent of tuition fees resulting in significant debt. Notwithstanding the likely prospect that a significant number of debts will never be repaid, nor the national differences from our imperfect union, one of the central tenets of the ‘no’ argument was that universities are yet to grasp who their new clients are. With this in mind, there are significant threats to many institutions, such as global competition for the most pre-eminent thinkers, the advent of MOOCs, and fear of student debt.
So, would I choose to burden myself with £40,000+ of debt to be taught by people who want to research, not teach? Well, as a humanities student who has never been called upon to use any of my historical knowledge nor few of my research skills in my various jobs, I would still argue that the financial prospects would say yes; resoundingly. Equally, the absence of a degree on my CV would likely affect me in all kinds of ways that I can barely imagine due to the prejudice associated with the expectation of having one. My social life would be very different too. Perhaps I am just a wealthy hypocrite but therein lies the injustice.
I am of course someone who had no idea what I wanted to do at 18 and therefore chose a non-vocational subject in order to delay the decision; I am fortunate that I could make that choice in a time before tuition fees but just as I was far from alone at Durham I suspect there are plenty of prospective students today who wish they were as fortunate. There will always be those who have a clear vision and who will choose their degree accordingly. But, whether intended or fortuitous, the benefits of attending university as an undergraduate are so much more than an imperfect academic education.
For these reasons, I expect more corporate input into universities, something captured in this editorial in the Observer today. Not only do employers want people with the potential to become skillful employees, they want mature individuals who have learnt to live independently, who have other interests and who have a network of likeminded friends. Employers helping to fund degrees would also demand the skills that they want from their employees, such as to communicate, negotiate, empathise and report, all skills which could be coached better at university. Although many academics would be distinctly uneasy at, indeed ill-suited to, this change, the writing is surely already on the (red-brick or plate glass) walls.
Cambridge, 25th May 2014
Scholey.com 