Writing in The Independent, Thursday 18th March 2010, Lucy Hodge comments positively on a new website giving wannabe students vital information about drop out rates and earnings. Read more
How many students comment on the poor or inadeqaute advice they received while at school about higher education and how many end up in their courses more by luck than design.
David Willetts, the Shadow higher education spokesman is spearheading the site. For the first time data on employment, careers and salaries are brought together in one place to help students to make the right choices of institution and subject for them.
Suppose one wanted to find out the earning power of a particular course, say study physics against English (about £4,000 p/a is argued to be the approximate difference here), and the employment rate of graduates on those two subjects, then the site can help students here. Similarly, one can discover the difference in earning power depending on location of study. It's important to use the site to find the drop-out rate from all institutions.
The information on the site is all publically available data. It is important that potential students have the information they need about the earnings they might expect from studying different subjects at different institutions.
The plan is to expand the website to give information to potential students on the GCSEs and A levels needed for different courses at individual universities. After that the hope is to expand to include information about bursaries - important as there is a patchwork blanket of bursaries at universities across the UK. At he moment it is difficult for students to find the best deal for them with many thinking university is more expensive than it is.
There is evidence that a growing number of undergraduates in the UK are abandoning the red brick and grey skies and seeking a top flight education overseas. With the UCAS application numbers continuing to rise, intakes being capped, higher education budgets cut and vice-chancellors pushing to raise the ceiling of £3240 on tuition fees, a foreign education should not be ruled out at this stage.
In the 2008-9 academic year a record 8701 students from Britain studied in America, a four percent rise on the previous year. (Figures from the Fulbright Commission which awards and advises on American scholarships for British students). There is no doubting the "Obama" effect on American interest but young people are increasingly seeing the value of an international education on their CV.
Europe is also welcoming more British students with a record number of over 10,000 (a 6% increase) taking advantage of the Erasmus programme which enables EU students to spend time abroad as an integral part of their degree programme. In an earlier piece I wrote about a number of intrepid undergraduates breaking the mould and crossing into mainland Europe especially Sweden, Italy (Milan's Bocconi university teaches 22 programmes in English) and the Netherlands. Interestingly, the university of Maastricht is so taken with its recent arrivals that it wants to be part of UCAS!! In addition, a larger than usual number of British students are applying to universities in Australia and New Zealand because of their strength in intenational ratings.
What attracts our students may well be the reduction in university places as a result of the cuts, overseas scholarships, academic excellence and lifestyle benefits. Now more than ever young people need to be in possession of accurate and relevant information to help them make informed choices.
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