Almost half of UK public think too many people go to university, survey finds

A YouGov survey has found that nearly half of the UK public believe too many young people go to university, while many believe that an apprenticeship would better prepare them for the future.

This news comes less than a month after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the government’s new target for higher education: having two-thirds of young people participating in academic learning, technical learning, or an apprenticeship by age 25.

The government intends to reach this target through introducing 14 new Technical Excellence Colleges, a new Ofsted framework designed to hold institutions accountable, and an added investment of nearly £800 million into 16–19-year-olds from the next academic year.

Despite this push for more young people to continue some form of post-secondary education, YouGov have found that the UK public think the country already has more than enough people attending university.

Even among university graduates, three times as many people answered that an apprenticeship is a better route than a degree

There is little difference between the responses of graduates and non-graduates to the survey.

Even among university graduates, three times as many people answered that an apprenticeship is a better route than a degree.

51% of parents with a child under 18 who were asked whether they would rather see their child undertake a degree or an apprenticeship answered “apprenticeship”, compared to 33% who would prefer if their child went to university.

Responses to the survey varied by party, with Green voters four times more likely to say that more people should attend higher education than Reform voters.

Analysis of the survey responses has found that career prospects and financial stability are, in the public’s view, the prime reasons for attending university.

22% of responses said that “a performing arts degree would leave them better off”, compared to the 86% of respondents who thought a medical degree would be more beneficial for their future.

Leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, recently announced her plan to scrap ‘rip-off’ courses in favour of boosting the number of available apprenticeships

This highlights the wider issue of threats to the arts and humanities sectors, with courses being written off in favour of STEM degrees which provide graduates with more secure and specific career opportunities.

Leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, recently announced her plan to scrap “rip-off” courses in favour of boosting the number of available apprenticeships.

The factors used to determine whether a course is a “rip-off” include “drop-out rates, job progression, and future earnings potential”.

The courses most at risk are humanities and arts courses that do not directly lead to a “specialised career”, and which are therefore deemed less valuable.

Readers of The Guardian have written to the newspaper, defending the courses Badenoch labelled as “rip-offs”.

Their defences of non-STEM degrees focused on the importance of critical thinking and historical awareness, the development of transferable professional skills, and the forgotten economic benefits of industries such as tourism, theatre, and events.