Faith in universities ‘at new low’ as graduate jobs dry up

the predicted triumph of circularity. 100% odds

Whats missing from this article is that while it is hard for Graduates at the moment, things have got worse, faster, for non-graduates. While there has been a 1.4% rise in the level of joblessness in new graduates, there has been a 2.4% increase in joblessness amoungst young workers without a degree. See the recent analysis by John Burn-Murdoch in the FT.

There has been widespread unrest at De Montfort Univesity: staff strikes threatened, student protests, and four no-confidence votes total (staff + students) by July 2025, creating an "untenable" position for Normington per analysts. As of mid-October 2025, no resignations have been announced, but pressure continues for Normington not to have her contract renewed in January 2026 and she currently has her head in the sand.

A university education equips students with an open and enquiring mind, with the ability to learn for themselves... it's not (except for a few vocational courses) expected to provide them with job-related training... and even vocational subjects such as medicine require a lot more training 'on the job' before a candidate is ready for their chosen career. Politicians are always ready to blame anyone but themselves for the economic climate, despite the quite employer-hostile actions of the current administration, and employers too are reluctant to invest in training potential hires, they have an unrealistic expectation that new graduates will walk straight into a position without needed to learn anything about the job they are to do but to hit the ground running straight away.

The erosion of ‘trust’, the lack of ‘faith’, the disenchantment and the challenging are all to do with more than grad un/under-employment - there is also the cost/debt affordability of HE, the perceived ‘wokiness’ of HE, the seeming ‘sale’ of immigration rather than education by way of international student recruitment, the degree-grade inflation, and the relevance of HE for the C21 that are factors in changing political and public attitudes towards HE in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada.

Paul Ashwin is spot on. HE has made itself hostage to fortune with the employability ideology. It is now seriously harming the sector and harming the value a university education brings to students. Especially in our world, students need so much more from higher educat ion than a shot at a job and a university is so much more, to society as a whole, than a job machine. The university has a role and function in its own right, one that benefits not only students but society as a whole. They are centres of knowledge in their communities. And now we're seeing politicians backtracking on increasing HE participation. Well, we need more people, of all ages, in university, not fewer. Students are also disengaging from the overemphasis on employability and realising they want knowledge for knowledge's sake, and the good (including professional careers) will flow from there. Imagine how much more joy academia would bring again if we got rid of the employability language.

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