The Graduate

I have pussyfooted around the issue for a long time, but I'm going to get to the bottom of university, graduate schemes and why it's so hard to get a job even with a degree.

Unlike my fellow graduate, Benjamin Braddock, I don't spending my days in a pool and having romantic assignations by night. I would much rather get out in a morning to earn my keep and spend my hard-earned cash on utility bills and other such exciting things.

So firstly, let's expand on my thoughts about this whole university conundrum. I went to a good university, got a good degree, and I've spent the last 5 months desperately trying to get a job. It shouldn't work like that, the trouble is, though, that there are so many graduates clamouring for jobs they don't even appear on potential employers' radar unless they've done something remarkable.

This begs the question - what is the point of getting a degree if it doesn't help you get a job at the end?
Answer: There is no point.

Now I'm not against degrees in general - I did one after all, and they do give immense life skills and opportunities in the process. But it's like the latest fashion, if one person has it, they stand out - if everyone has it, no-one looks at you twice.

I think the real crux of this argument comes down to why a person will do a degree in the first place. If it is for genuine career advancement - as in they do their degree so that they can get a good job at the end of it - then I have no problem. What really bugs me is he amount of people who go to university for the sake of it - for the 'life experience', which is a synonym of 'getting drunk as many nights in a row as possible'. They are the kind of people that give graduates a bad name.

In my mind university should be an academic discipline. If you're not academic then don't go. We should get over the horribly out-dated attitude that university is for everyone and we should manipulate it so that it's all-inclusive. I'll say it plainly - university isn't for everyone. I personally think the old polytechnics should go back to teaching practical and vocational subjects that trained you up for a practical industry and leave the academic subjects to the old guard.

It is for this reason that I am 100% behind the fee hike. If you have to pay £36,000 in tuition alone for your university education then you're going to think twice. The result has so far been interesting. There are 8.7% fewer applications to universities this year than last - that means in 3 years, 8.7% fewer graduates all spilling out into the jobs market.

That is positive.

But still there are people who are keen to keep the public happy, and throw them a bone or two so the opinion polls remain a happy read for the government. It emerged today that some colleges are now going to offer cheaper degree courses. And it was all going so well...

I still maintain that an attitude change is the thing that the UK needs now more than anything. Until we get over the stereotype that university should be available to everyone then we're never going to get over the problem of degrees dumbing-down and graduates coming out with a very expensive piece of paper that won't get them very far in life at all...