It’s time for some honesty about the great university myth ...Middle East

I’d be willing to bet many other graduates who spent thousands on their courses in subjects like mine had a similar experience.

From sixth-form colleges to politicians to universities themselves, we could all be a bit more honest about the cost and the value of the higher education sector in the UK.

Yet despite a willingness to accept that the way universities are funded isn’t working, the broader conversation about what they’re for and who gets the most out of them is something politicians don’t seem willing to engage with. We are missing the why.

Over the same period, central Government grants fell from 39 per cent to around 12 per cent, with institutions much more reliant on income from students. However the fees they pay have remained largely static since rising to £9,000 in 2012, despite rising inflation and increased staff and pension costs.

Add to this the increasing pressure on institutions to fund mental health support and pressure from the Government on overseas students, who help make up the gap in funding from UK-based applicants, and there’s a recipe for disaster which experts warn could see some universities close their doors altogether in the years to come.

They are also the courses which students might find themselves taking if they have little idea what they’d like to do once they graduate, or if they don’t get much in the way of help when choosing which degree to take. In turn they tend to be the students who will need the most financial help and find themselves with large loans to pay off once they graduate – which their degree may not help them to do.

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Universities have looked abroad to plug funding gaps in recent years, with overseas students making up large proportions of the fee income streams because they pay far more. But this has come with its own pressures and concerns, including the role of China’s Confucius Institutes, which have now been largely de-funded by the new Labour Government.

Perhaps a funding squeeze which forces some universities to close might not be such a bad thing if the ones that are left deliver high quality results and, crucially, don’t saddle young people with debt that may not help them get ahead. Especially when Labour is pushing for skills gaps to be closed with home-grown talent – not all of which require a degree.

Kate McCann is Political Editor at Times Radio

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