Daniel Lilley: Britain must rewire the education system to end the great university con
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Daniel Lilley is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Justice.
The UCAS application deadline closed last week, with hundreds of thousands of young people across the country scrambling to finish up their personal statements, and surely at least one or two questioning how visible ChatGPT’s guiding hand will be to admissions officers.
2025 saw record numbers of applications and this year is likely to be no different. University applications dwarf every other path at 18 by some margin. Today, over three fifths of young people in England progress into a degree in the two years after finishing their studies, according to the DfE. Decades on from Tony Blair’s famous 50 per cent target, university remains the dominant route, the esteemed route, the expected route. But should this be the case in 2026?
New analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggests otherwise, finding that the value of university degrees, especially relative to apprenticeships, has deteriorated over recent years.
Five years after qualifying in their early twenties, a higher level (L4) apprentice will now earn almost £12,500 more than a student graduating from a low-value university course – and £5,000 more than the average graduate. Even ten years after donning the mortarboard for their graduation photo, the average graduate still earns £2,500 less than the salary taken home by a higher apprentice in half the time.
This is before we even consider the student debt that those heading to university are taking on. Apprentices not only avoid this debt, but earn, albeit modestly, throughout their training. The average student had debts of £53,000 after graduating last year, and – as has been reported this week – the interest is so high that for many earners the debt pile continues to mass well into their twenties and thirties.
As ever, the British public are ahead of the curve. Just four per cent of the public think that degrees are better than apprenticeships for gaining employment. It is clear to much of the country that we have too many people taking degrees with low-income prospects and too few people entering technical and vocational training.
We lead the OECD in “overqualification”. If you have a degree from a university outside of the top 20 (as ranked by The Times), then your chances of entering low skilled work after university are doubled.
Meanwhile our construction and skilled trade sector are creaking under chronic and severe skills shortages, accounting for almost half of vacancies. As the number starting apprenticeships has fallen, the leaky skills pipeline has faltered, and these trades have become increasingly reliant on older workers. Since 2008 the under 24 construction workforce has shrunk by 40 per cent, while the proportion over 65 has trebled. Bob …
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Daniel Lilley is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Justice.
The UCAS application deadline closed last week, with hundreds of thousands of young people across the country scrambling to finish up their personal statements, and surely at least one or two questioning how visible ChatGPT’s guiding hand will be to admissions officers.
2025 saw record numbers of applications and this year is likely to be no different. University applications dwarf every other path at 18 by some margin. Today, over three fifths of young people in England progress into a degree in the two years after finishing their studies, according to the DfE. Decades on from Tony Blair’s famous 50 per cent target, university remains the dominant route, the esteemed route, the expected route. But should this be the case in 2026?
New analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggests otherwise, finding that the value of university degrees, especially relative to apprenticeships, has deteriorated over recent years.
Five years after qualifying in their early twenties, a higher level (L4) apprentice will now earn almost £12,500 more than a student graduating from a low-value university course – and £5,000 more than the average graduate. Even ten years after donning the mortarboard for their graduation photo, the average graduate still earns £2,500 less than the salary taken home by a higher apprentice in half the time.
This is before we even consider the student debt that those heading to university are taking on. Apprentices not only avoid this debt, but earn, albeit modestly, throughout their training. The average student had debts of £53,000 after graduating last year, and – as has been reported this week – the interest is so high that for many earners the debt pile continues to mass well into their twenties and thirties.
As ever, the British public are ahead of the curve. Just four per cent of the public think that degrees are better than apprenticeships for gaining employment. It is clear to much of the country that we have too many people taking degrees with low-income prospects and too few people entering technical and vocational training.
We lead the OECD in “overqualification”. If you have a degree from a university outside of the top 20 (as ranked by The Times), then your chances of entering low skilled work after university are doubled.
Meanwhile our construction and skilled trade sector are creaking under chronic and severe skills shortages, accounting for almost half of vacancies. As the number starting apprenticeships has fallen, the leaky skills pipeline has faltered, and these trades have become increasingly reliant on older workers. Since 2008 the under 24 construction workforce has shrunk by 40 per cent, while the proportion over 65 has trebled. Bob …
Daniel Lilley: Britain must rewire the education system to end the great university con
This isn't complicated—it's willpower.
Daniel Lilley is a Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Justice.
The UCAS application deadline closed last week, with hundreds of thousands of young people across the country scrambling to finish up their personal statements, and surely at least one or two questioning how visible ChatGPT’s guiding hand will be to admissions officers.
2025 saw record numbers of applications and this year is likely to be no different. University applications dwarf every other path at 18 by some margin. Today, over three fifths of young people in England progress into a degree in the two years after finishing their studies, according to the DfE. Decades on from Tony Blair’s famous 50 per cent target, university remains the dominant route, the esteemed route, the expected route. But should this be the case in 2026?
New analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) suggests otherwise, finding that the value of university degrees, especially relative to apprenticeships, has deteriorated over recent years.
Five years after qualifying in their early twenties, a higher level (L4) apprentice will now earn almost £12,500 more than a student graduating from a low-value university course – and £5,000 more than the average graduate. Even ten years after donning the mortarboard for their graduation photo, the average graduate still earns £2,500 less than the salary taken home by a higher apprentice in half the time.
This is before we even consider the student debt that those heading to university are taking on. Apprentices not only avoid this debt, but earn, albeit modestly, throughout their training. The average student had debts of £53,000 after graduating last year, and – as has been reported this week – the interest is so high that for many earners the debt pile continues to mass well into their twenties and thirties.
As ever, the British public are ahead of the curve. Just four per cent of the public think that degrees are better than apprenticeships for gaining employment. It is clear to much of the country that we have too many people taking degrees with low-income prospects and too few people entering technical and vocational training.
We lead the OECD in “overqualification”. If you have a degree from a university outside of the top 20 (as ranked by The Times), then your chances of entering low skilled work after university are doubled.
Meanwhile our construction and skilled trade sector are creaking under chronic and severe skills shortages, accounting for almost half of vacancies. As the number starting apprenticeships has fallen, the leaky skills pipeline has faltered, and these trades have become increasingly reliant on older workers. Since 2008 the under 24 construction workforce has shrunk by 40 per cent, while the proportion over 65 has trebled. Bob …
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