This is news gold...

Especially as I consider doing a dissertation thinking about aspirations and educational attainment. (BBC news story here entitled The Global Demand for Graduates)
The gist of it is that the UK is falling behind the rest of Europe in the number of graduates that it produces. We as a country don't quite seem to believe that having a degree is a worthwhile thing, believing that job opportunities arise without one.

Part of the problem is that a very large swathe of opinion in Britain simply does not believe that we need more graduates.

This includes saloon bar sages, large sections of the media, and - until recently - it also included the Conservative party, which for years ridiculed the government's target of getting 50% of young people through higher education.

This might explain why we so often hear young people casting doubt on the value of going to university. The message they are getting from some quarters is that they would do better to go straight into a job.

When I think about the cost of Lauren going off to uni, I could quite easily be swayed too. Tuition fees are £3k per year, accommodation costs £4k per year plus living expenses on top of that. This means that in three years time, Lauren will have a BA but be at least£21k in debt. A great way to start off your working life! It would be interesting to know that what opportunities would arise for her in the work place if she had gone directly into employment. Also what she could have done with that £7k per year had she chosen to invest it in some way or put it into opening a business. I guess we'll never know...