What's the point of a degree? Parents call for apprenticeships as faith in universities falters

A new study by King's College London (KCL), titled "Still worth it?" found that three quarters (76 per cent) of the public think apprenticeship opportunities should be strengthened while only 39 per cent said the same for young people going to university.

When asked if parents would prefer their child to study for a university degree or an apprenticeship more people chose an apprenticeship (48 per cent) than a university degree (40 per cent).

When comparing university degrees with vocational qualifications, 53 per cent of respondents said vocational education makes it easier to adjust to work life and be able to adapt to the changing demands of the job market over a career (38% vs 19%).

However, the public still believes university degrees lead to getting a "good" job (29% vs 22%) and help build relationships and networks that help you in your career, although the results are very close (28% vs 27%).

Professor of Public Policy and Director of the Policy Institute at King’s College London, Bobby Duffy said: "While universities are highly valued, they are not enough to meet all needs, with the public clearly in favour of more vocational education and apprenticeships.

"This fits well with the Labour government’s stated priorities, which include developing a more comprehensive post-16 skills strategy, including establishing a new skills body for England and reforming the apprenticeship levy.”

Without comparing university degrees to vocational qualifications, parents are just as likely as 10 years ago to say it's important for their child to go to university.

In 2024, 47 per cent of parents said it was important to them while in 2014, 44 per cent said the same thing.

Parents also tend to think that degrees are not as necessary for a good job, but they think there's more to university than just careers.

Only 33 per cent of parents believe if you don't have a degree these days you can't get a decent job compared to 49 per cent who oppose that view.

Despite this, out of those who attended university, nine out of 10 respondents said they would do it again if given the choice.

Furthermore, around eight in 10 graduates said their degree was worth it for the academic knowledge and skills gained (84 per cent), for the experiences they had at university as a student (78 per cent) and the overall experience and benefits (81 per cent).

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Another two-thirds said it was worth it for the friends they made studying (66 per cent) and for finding jobs and advancing their careers (66 per cent).

Professor of Public Sector Management at King’s College London Alison Wolf said: "The public understands the value of universities and graduates are positive about the experience, but there is evidence here of growing scepticism about some of what universities do and whether they alone are enough.

"People do not see them as the most important priority for education spending: our findings confirm and build on other evidence that support for apprenticeships ranks higher.

"All of this will, inevitably, feed into government decisions and underlines the need to think hard about how – not whether – our university system should develop and change.”

The survey was based on 2,683 UK respondents aged 16 and over, surveyed between May 1 to 9, 2024.