Latest news with #graduates
Wall Street Journal
a day ago
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
AI Is Wrecking an Already Fragile Job Market for College Graduates
What do you hire a 22-year-old college graduate for these days? For a growing number of bosses, the answer is not much—AI can do the work instead.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
More than 630,000 graduates are on BENEFITS amid fears over the rise of 'Mickey Mouse' degrees
More than 630,000 graduates are claiming benefits amid fears over the rise of 'Mickey Mouse' degrees, official figures have revealed. According to the first data of its kind released to Parliament, a total of 639,000 people with an honours degree or similar level qualification are claiming Universal Credit. This means that more than one in nine claimants (11.9 per cent) are graduates, just four per cent lower than the proportion with no qualifications (15.9 per cent), which came to 849,000 people. The data, from the Labour Force Survey for March to May this year, has been released to Parliament by the UK Statistics Authority, as the full-time employment rate for graduates has fallen from 61 per cent to 59 per cent. It comes as more graduates face earning the minimum wage, with the salary gap between the country's lowest earners and students leaving university becoming increasingly closer. The median real-terms salary for graduates aged under 65 was £26,500, the study found. This was an increase of £500 from the previous year. The survey did find that graduates were more likely to be in work than non-graduates, with 88 per cent of graduates in employment last year, compared with 68 per cent of non-graduates. However, the figures of the number of graduates on Universal Credit will fuel worry that so-called 'Mickey Mouse' degrees are seeing students leave university without the skills they need to find a job. Prof Alan Smithers, the director of the centre for education and employment research at Buckingham University, told the Telegraph: 'The kinds of things that are offered lead to degrees but don't qualify people for the kinds of employment that are available. 'Therefore, people work hard on degree courses for three years and then discover that they don't have much earning potential in the labour market.' Neil O'Brien, a Tory MP who obtained the data through parliamentary questions and is leading the party's policy development, said it revealed 'the serious problems with both welfare and low-value university courses'. 'Students are running up huge debts, being promised the moon, but ending up on benefits,' he added. Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, told the Times: 'Today's graduates face the triple jeopardy of low-value degrees, a labour market crippled by Labour's job taxes and competition with AI for entry-level roles. 'The Government needs to grip this challenge. Their failure to reform welfare and economic mismanagement threatens the future of a new generation. Meanwhile, the taxpayer is footing the bill for unpaid student loans and graduates on benefits.' A government spokesman said: 'We remain committed to our principles to reform the welfare system – those who can work should work and if you need help into work the Government should support you.' Last year, Daily Mail analysis revealed a wide range of 'novelty' courses were on offer for students who did not make their predicted grades on A-level results day. It found that the Ucas Clearing website showed 22 institutions offering courses in esports; nine in social media courses, three in digital content creation courses; and one had a 'rap and MC' course. But critics say that while the courses sound fun, they may lack academic rigour due to low entry requirements, and have only been created to increase funding, with universities facing tough financial challenges following tuition fees being frozen in 2017. Chris McGovern of the Campaign for Real Education said: 'This is a money-making racket from cash-strapped universities. 'They are placing their own interests above the best interests of these young people and [it is] the taxpayer who has to finance student loans that, in these cases, are unlikely to be paid off. 'Universities have a duty of care towards young people. Instead, they are exploiting them... Mickey Mouse degrees are those invented to seduce young people into handing over large amounts of money to keep universities in business.' Tuition fees had previously remained frozen at £9,250 per year in England since 2017. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the House of Commons last November said the tuition fees cap was being increased by £285 per year due to the 'severe financial challenges' facing universities. She said there had been a 'significant real-terms decline in their income' due to rampant inflation in recent years.
Telegraph
a day ago
- Business
- Telegraph
A reckoning is coming for the higher education sector
What would the founders of our great universities think of the news that no fewer than 637,000 graduates are now claiming Universal Credit? Perhaps they would have agreed with the late Kingsley Amis, who in 1960 greeted the expansion of higher education with the words: 'More will mean worse.' We do not have to endorse such cultural pessimism to accept that the precipitous rise in the quantity of graduates has been accompanied by a dilution in the quality of degrees. The results can now be seen. Students are running up huge debts, expecting their studies to amply reward them. But instead they end up finding themselves on benefits. Britain's welfare system was not designed for a generation which has lost all inhibitions about what it no longer calls 'the dole'. But the bigger concern is the university system itself, now on the brink of bankruptcy. In yesterday's Telegraph James Kirkup argued that the vanishing of the 'graduate premium' in earnings, combined with the loss of many 'graduate jobs' to AI, is reducing the appeal of a degree. Squeezed by demographic decline, universities are now financially dependent on foreign students, who pay higher tuition fees. Driven by voters' anger over migration, however, governments have cut visas for overseas students. Some 40 per cent of universities are now running deficits. Add to this the folly of the likes of Edinburgh University, which is apologising for the views of its Enlightenment luminaries such as Dugald Stewart and David Hume. If the prospectus is mandatory self-flagellation and not-so-genteel poverty, it is time to consider university reform.
Times
a day ago
- Business
- Times
More than 600,000 graduates are claiming benefits
More than 600,000 graduates are claiming benefits, according to newly released official figures. In response to a parliamentary question from the Conservative MP Neil O'Brien, the UK Statistics Authority revealed that between March to May this year 639,000 people with a level six qualification — equivalent to a degree with honours — or above were claiming universal credit, making up 12 per cent of those being paid the benefit. The figures came from the Office for National Statistics' Labour Force Survey, which also found that 88 per cent of graduates were in employment last year compared with 68 per cent of non-graduates. There was an economic inactivity rate of almost 10 per cent among graduates and an unemployment rate of 3 per cent. The median real-terms salary for graduates aged under 65 was £26,500, the study found — an increase of £500 compared with the previous year. Graduates were more likely to be in work according to the survey, which was released last month. The unemployment rate was 5.6 per cent for non-graduates. The inactivity rate — a person outside the labour force who has not been seeking work — stood at almost 30 per cent for non-graduates. These figures include the long-term sick, students and people who have taken early retirement. The Conservative Party said that graduates were suffering because of Labour's policies. Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: 'Today's graduates face the triple jeopardy of low-value degrees, a labour market crippled by Labour's job taxes and competition with AI for entry-level roles. 'The government needs to grip this challenge. Their failure to reform welfare and economic mismanagement threatens the future of a new generation. Meanwhile, the taxpayer is footing the bill for unpaid student loans and graduates on benefits.' The annual survey by the Higher Education Statistics Agency revealed that Medicine and dentistry graduates earned nearly £10,000 more than the average university leaver after 15 months, at £37,900. The lowest salaries were paid to graduates from media, journalism and communication subjects, at almost £25,000. The number of graduates on universal credit will fuel concern over so-called 'Mickey Mouse' degrees with high dropout rates and poor job prospects. Before Labour took office, Rishi Sunak promised a crackdown on courses that were 'ripping young people off' by offering degree places that did not increase their long-term earnings potential. He said that one in eight university places would be scrapped. At the time, Labour criticised Sunak's remarks, accusing his government of 'trashing' the sector. Since taking office Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has increased tuition fees to £9,535 — the first increase in eight years — and increased maintenance loans. A government spokesman said: 'We remain committed to our principles to reform the welfare system — those who can work should work, and if you need help into work the government should support you.'
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
More than 600,000 graduates on benefits
More than 630,000 graduates are claiming benefits, according to official figures that cast doubt on the value of 'Mickey Mouse' degrees. A total of 639,000 people with an honours degree or similar level qualification are claiming Universal Credit, according to the first data of its kind released to Parliament. That is equal to more than one in nine (11.9 per cent) of Universal Credit claimants and is four percentage points below the proportion with no qualifications. Those without any qualifications who are receiving Universal Credit numbered 849,000, representing 15.9 per cent of claimants, according to the data from the Labour Force Survey for March to May this year, released to Parliament by the UK Statistics Authority. The data comes as the full-time employment rate for graduates has fallen from 61 per cent to 59 per cent, with some academics warning that too many degree-holders are leaving university without the skills they need to get a job. Prof Alan Smithers, the director of the centre for education and employment research at Buckingham University, said there was a significant mismatch between the degrees offered to students in a massively expanded university sector and the demands of the job market. He said he was 'not a fan' of the term 'Mickey Mouse' degrees, a phrase first coined by Baroness Hodge, the former Labour universities minister, to mean 'one where the content is perhaps not as rigorous as one would expect and where the degree itself may not have huge relevance in the labour market'. However, he said: 'I don't think we have really established the role of universities in society. We have just expanded them on the grounds that they were a good thing and fairness determined that everyone should have the opportunity to go. 'As a result of that, the system has grown. The kinds of things that are offered lead to degrees but don't qualify people for the kinds of employment that are available. Therefore, people work hard on degree courses for three years and then discover that they don't have much earning potential in the labour market.' He said there were some graduates, such as those who had chosen to be writers, actors or artists, who were 'quite relaxed' about claiming benefits. But others would have built up massive loan debts on courses that had been elevated to degree level when they did not need to be, such as education or media studies, he added. Prof Smithers said: 'Many institutions have become elevated to universities and many subjects have become elevated to call themselves degrees, but they then have to shovel things into them.' The data showed that people who had finished their academic career with top grade GCSEs (A-C, or 4-9) accounted for the highest proportion of Universal Credit claimants at 26.7 per cent. They comprised a total of 1.4 million people. That was almost five times the rate of those who had 'failed' their GCSEs by receiving grades D-G or equivalent, and who were also half as likely as graduates to be claiming Universal Credit. They numbered 304,000 and accounted for 5.7 per cent of claimants. Those with A-levels or the equivalent, but who had not gone to university, numbered 1.1 million and accounted for one in five (20.6 per cent) of claimants. The figures come as more graduates face earning the minimum wage, with the salary gap between university leavers and the country's lowest earners disappearing. Rapid increases in the National Living Wage mean a full-time worker on the UK's lowest salary now earns £25,500. Meanwhile, one in 10 graduate roles were advertised at £25,000 at the end of last year, according to Indeed data. 'Students being promised the moon' Neil O'Brien, a Tory MP who is leading the party's policy development and obtained the data through parliamentary questions, said it showed 'the serious problems with both welfare and low-value university courses'. He added: 'Students are running up huge debts, being promised the moon, but ending up on benefits.' Helen Whately, the shadow work and pensions secretary, said: 'Today's graduates face the triple jeopardy of low-value degrees, a labour market crippled by Labour's job taxes and competition with AI for entry-level roles. 'The Government needs to grip this challenge. Their failure to reform welfare and economic mismanagement threatens the future of a new generation. Meanwhile, the taxpayer is footing the bill for unpaid student loans and graduates on benefits.' The Government noted that 87.6 per cent of graduates were in employment – compared with 68 per cent for non-graduates. Some 67.9 per cent of graduates were in high-skilled employment – compared with 23.7 per cent of non-graduates. A government spokesman said: 'We remain committed to our principles to reform the welfare system – those who can work should work and if you need help into work the Government should support you.'
