Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Why universities are failing 6. New assessments

Aditya Chakrabortty has produced a compelling article: 'Mis-sold, expensive and overhyped: why our universities are a con'.  He unpacks a number of promises made by governments of both persuasion (in the UK), promises that have not materialised.  The first was 'that degrees mean inevitably bigger salaries.' But as he points out: 'Britain manufactures graduates by the tonne, but it doesn’t produce nearly enough graduate-level jobs. Nearly half of all graduates languish in jobs that don’t require graduate skills, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. In 1979, only 3.5% of new bank and post office clerks had a degree; today it is 35% – to do a job that often pays little more than the minimum wage.'