Earlier this year, Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, unveiled plans to “crackdown” on “rip off” university degrees.
These ask the Office for Students (OfS) to limit the number of students onto courses that are failing to deliver “good outcomes”.
The Conservative Party leader claimed that “too many young people are being sold a false dream”, asserting the view that students are taking “poor quality” courses at the taxpayers’ expense – offering few job prospects.
Professor Mary Vincent, Vice President for Education at the University of Sheffield wrote for The Times, refuting Sunak’s assertions. The Vice President contested that Sunak’s narrative creates risk of “stifling potential”, and that “no form of education is a rip-off”.
In her view, Sunak’s approach “opens up the value of a university education itself to criticism. A continuing rhetoric that bashes the value of degrees is not helpful to graduates, universities or to wider society when the knowledge and transferable skills are vital to the UK’s future prosperity.”
Her attitude goes beyond Sunak’s financial outlook, focusing on the dynamic nature of education:
“Whether it’s applied sciences or humanities, university students discover how to approach problems, respond to large amounts of data, and frame questions so they can learn the most from the answers”.
The Education and Careers Officer for the History Society, Louise Bruce, who is in her third year studying History and Politics has also hit back at Sunak’s barb.
Louise told Forge Press that, “History is a rich and valuable degree that equips students with a wide variety of important skills that can be taken with them down any career path they choose”.
She continued: “many History graduates see great success in both degree related jobs and other career avenues. History along with all other Arts and Humanities degrees can act as an amazing launching pad into any chosen career”.
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