Quintin Jardine's blog

As I write this, British students have taken to the streets to protest against increases in tuition fees. In principle I’m on their side; I take the view that a wise nation will invest in its own future. A foolish one will risk the damage that could be inflicted through unfulfilled potential by putting a steep price on tertiary education; the higher the price, the greater the folly.

But that doesn’t mean I believe that anyone who turns up at university should be given a free ride. When I was a kid there were four full-fledged universities in Scotland. places were limited, and prized. Today there are fourteen, and a degree is much more attainable. Good, great, I have nothing against that. But is it reasonable to ask whether higher qualifications have become just too attainable? The most recent published figure shows that 8.9% of those who graduated from British universities in 2009 were out of work on January 1, 2010. And that’s an average; it’s much worse in some specific areas. Media students were least likely to find work, lawyers (God help us) the most likely.

With a contracting public sector, these figures are unlikely to get any better soon, so, isn’t it time for government, in Westminster and Edinburgh, to consider whether it might not be more honest to take some capacity out of the system? And to be a little more heretical, might it not  take a look at where graduate supply is most needed and ensure that those subjects are incentivised, i. e. subsidised, with a system of selection that ensures that the best and the brightest get first option.

At the moment, as a nation, we’re spending too much money training too many people for not enough, then compounding the crime by expecting the victims of this policy to carry the cost through much of their working lives . . . that’s if they’re lucky enough to have working lives at all.