Now that the summer sunshine is fading, many families’ minds are turning to new horizons. In the next few weeks, some 425,830 students will embark on the great adventure of life at university.
For many of us, it remains a seminal rite of passage: the first extended spell away from home, the first lecture, the first seminar, the first hangover…
If you listen to university chiefs, Britain’s youngsters have never had it so good. With more than half of those in their late teens and 20s going into higher education, numbers have doubled since my student days 30 years ago. Yet still, enthusiasts for higher education are not satisfied.
Tony Blair, who set a target of 50 per cent after becoming Prime Minister in 1997, emerged from beneath his rock a few months ago to insist 70 per cent of school-leavers should go to university — without, of course, quite spelling out where they would live, who would teach them or who was going to pay for it.
Having spent much of my adult life in universities, first as a student, then as an academic, I think he’s dead wrong.
In the next few weeks, some 425,830 students will embark on the great adventure of life at university. Picture: file image
I believe thousands of youngsters are being seduced into courses for which they are grossly unsuited.
I think there are too many universities, too many academics and too many students. To put it bluntly, I think we’re tolerating a massive scam. And I’m glad to report that another member of the Blair…
