Government called to drop target 50% university target

The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) has called for the government to scrap its 50 percent higher education target, amidst claims that it has misled students on their employment prospects.
 
The call comes after the student community website, The Student Room, published an article suggesting that graduates are beginning to look away from highly lucrative career choices.
 
The AGR claims that the government’s target of getting half of people under the age of 30 into higher education has, “devalued the currency of the degree,” with 25 percent of first degree graduates still working in non-graduate occupations two years after leaving university.
 
Speaking to The Journal, chief executive Carl Gilleard said: “I fear that schools, encouraged by the government, have put a real emphasis on going to university whilst paying little attention to alternatives. Nobody seems to have explained to these young people that getting a degree by itself isn’t enough to guarantee a higher-level of employment.

"Employers will have plenty of other candidates with good degrees and it’s the experiences and qualities that you can bring in addition to this that will make the difference.”
 
The Student Room’s marketing director Jamie O’Connell has suggested that graduates are actually becoming increasingly willing to take lower-level work in order to “get a foot in the door”.

A survey conducted by the website revealed that, whilst 65 percent of recent graduate employees are currently not working in their chosen field, the majority of them are happy with their current position, considering it a stepping stone towards their desired career. 

According to Mr O’Connell, the statistics reflect the rise of ‘Generation Y’ – young adults who are no longer interested in high pay-packages and prestigious job titles, focussing instead on more emotionally-rewarding careers. 

Nearly 60 percent of respondents to the survey cited a career’s potential to be interesting as a reason for choosing it, compared with only 27 percent who were concerned with salary.
 
Mr Gilleard warned that people shouldn’t overestimate the significance of this, telling The Journal: “It’s true that we are seeing a generation who are more engaged with social and environmental issues… At the moment, the financial services sector doesn’t appeal as much because it’s seen as socially irresponsible, but I don’t think it’s a massive shift.

"The banking sector has continued to receive large numbers of applications. There are always going to be those graduates who are highly focussed on earning potential but they know they need to be more realistic in the current economic climate and so, for the moment, they’re happy to take lower-level jobs.”