The Government should scrap its target of admitting 50 per cent of people under 30 into higher education, according to a new report from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR).

The AGR believes that the government target has watered down the importance of degrees.  AGR Chief Executive Carl Gilleard said the proposals would ‘reaffirm the value of a degree.’

The 50 per cent target has in recent years been central to the government’s approach to higher education, with greater inclusion viewed as a vital tool in attempting to improve social mobility.

However this goal has come under scrutiny after the Government recently placed caps on university places amidst the uncertainty regarding the future of public spending.

The report asserts that the 50 per cent target has ‘driven down standards and devalued the currency of a degree’ and that the ‘focus must shift back to quality rather than quantity.’

The report also describes the raising of tuition fees in England as ‘inevitable.’

However it indicates that the fees cap should be removed in stages, with graduates only having to repay their fees once they earn £15,000 or the equivalent when inflation is taken into account.

It indicates that families should start saving at an early stage, paying into a ‘national savings  scheme’ years before their children start higher education.  However it does not recommend any set size of fee increase.

The National Union of Students (NUS) has viscously attacked the proposals.  NUS President Wes Streeting said: "At a time when students are leaving university with record levels of debt, and graduate job prospects are at an all time low, it is offensive to argue that the cap on fees should be raised at all, let alone lifted entirely."

NUS recently launched the ‘use your vote’ campaign to encourage students to use their vote in favour of MP’s who do not support raising fees.  Earlier in March, EUSA President Thomas Graham unveiled that Edinburgh North MP, Mark Lazarowiz, had backed the campaign. 

Tuition fees are set to be increase to £3,290 next year in England.  Last November, Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson set up a Government review into tuition fees.  Though Lord Browne, head of the fees review, has insisted that fee increases are not a ‘forgone conclusion’, many analysts have claimed that fee increases are on the cards as a measure to counteract future public spending cuts.

Scottish students studying in Scotland currently do not have to pay fees.  Despite uncertainty regarding higher education funding in Scotland, Scottish Education Secretary, Mike Russell MSP, pledged earlier this month to Scottish NUS delegates that the Scottish Government will not be introducing tuition fees. 

Academics have expressed their disappointment over the report.

General Secretary Sally Hunt said: "The future for the UK is at the forefront of a high-skilled knowledge economy and we won’t get there with less graduates."

She added, “It is time that business started to make a proper contribution to university funding, instead of parroting its siren calls to increase the debt of students and the burden on hardworking families struggling in tough economic times.”

Other recommendations in the reOther recommendations in the report include greater work experience for students before university and that universities should offer more information on graduate prospects of degree programs. 

The AGR represnts 750 employers, including many blue chip companies, banks like Barclays, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, as well as other influential financial groups.

Government agencies like the Ministry of Defence and NHS Scotland are also part of the group.
Together they recruit around 30,000 UK graduates every year.

Published 16 March 2010

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