The subject of this lively, passionate and loquacious meeting was whether University degrees are a great goal or an awful gaffe.

This debate was inspired by a conversation with an embittered retiree who had risen, slowly, to a position of seniority in his employment, having amassed knowledge and experience, only to be challenged by new, inexperienced graduates who, he felt, were disparaging about his non-graduate status.

This led us to question whether degrees were all they were cracked up to be.  A short history of the recent development of universities – the merger with polytechnics in 1993, Tony Blair’s mantra of “Education, education, education” in promoting graduate achievement, the introduction of fees, the subsequent raising of said fees and the substantial financial burden faced by students on completion of their course.

Statistics abounded from a multitude of sources, many biased, revealing the complex and confusing picture of graduate employment, of higher salaries, of networking advantages, of evaluating the importance and relevance of degrees on a personal, economic and societal level.  Are some degrees worth more than others? Is a 2.1 from Coventry University equal to a 2.1 from Warwick?  Some degrees in (say) the Arts and Humanities don’t have the earning potential or career progression as compared to those in the STEM fields. Should these degrees be downgraded or restricted? Does the influx of undergraduates (national and international) ultimately devalue the degree? Aren’t some employment paths better served through apprenticeships, HNCs and HNDs, where skills are learned as part of a structured programme into employment?

It was suggested that 70% of jobs are non-degree specific, inferring that employers are looking for other aspects: a development of an analytical mind, a broadening of knowledge and understanding and an ability to adapt and apply.  Certainly, we agreed that personal enrichment was an important component to undertaking higher education.

The rise of AI was considered in its influence on both degree courses and future employment: it has been mooted that as many as 27% of graduate jobs have been replaced by AI, but this is a future employment development no one can safely predict. 

The financial strain facing many students with repaying a loan of £50,000 or more has to be put into the equation; this is always going to be a negative factor for students from less financially secure backgrounds.  It is still commonly accepted that class divisions still exist, influencing the choice of universities, the courses and the employment prospects afterwards.  Whether you regard a degree as simply a qualification on a CV or a conduit for an advancement of knowledge becomes immaterial when a job application’s baseline rests with having a BSc or BA.

Would you encourage an 18 year old to aim for a university degree? Obviously depending on their chosen career path, there are many arguments on both sides of the debate. But given the statistics of the group’s members, where 60% attained a degree in the 1960’s and 70’s, 96% of our children gained degrees.  And while this U3A group of middle-class, educated, financially secure cohort is not a reliable or representative sample, it does possibly demonstrate our general positive feelings (with some misgivings) for promoting a degree-based higher education path.