Comment: Graduate job seekers betrayed

Mar 11 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

THE Government has consistently promoted the idea of greater numbers in higher education as the only way to go if the United Kingdom is to compete in the global knowledge economy.

While that all sounds very well in theory, the report we carry today shows that thousands of Merseyside students are ending up in non-graduate jobs after finishing university.

In other words, there is a clear case of supply outstripping demand – or, more accurately, of the available supply not meeting the precise demands of professional employers. But it also shows there are simply not enough graduate- level jobs to go round for the increasing numbers now entering university.

The net result is that graduates are saddling themselves with thousands of pounds of debt for what, in effect, is a worthless piece of paper if, at the end of their degrees, they find themselves in jobs which they could just as easily have done if they had never been to university in the first place.

Figures obtained by the Daily Post show that, on some courses at universities in the region, more than four-fifths of students do not go into jobs which require a degree after graduation.

In such a crowded market place as university graduates, it means more than ever that students need to take part in extra activities to boost their CVs if they are to stand out from the rest.

But it could also mean that the Open University could be a viable alternative option, as it would allow students to get a degree which could be fitted around their working life.

Many graduates will no doubt feel betrayed by a Government which has urged them to go on to higher education – and take on considerable debt for the privilege – only to find there are not enough jobs of sufficient quality available once they leave.

Not only will the job be unfulfilling, it will also mean in all likelihood that it will take longer to pay off that debt.

But these figures also show that a university degree of itself is now no longer enough. In some cases, it might not even be what’s needed in the first place.