Ross Clark Ross Clark

Is university still worth it?

issue 19 August 2023

Imagine that, just as Britain was closing down for the first Covid lockdown in the spring of 2020, you were 18 years old and had received an offer from the university of your choice, subject to good exam results. The grades proved to be no problem – with all exams cancelled, you were graded in accordance with your teacher’s estimate of how you would perform, and sailed through. But then the time came to go to university and you couldn’t – not properly, anyway.

‘Lots of students end up in jobs deemed to be low-skilled that would not need a degree in the first place’

You kept finding yourself imprisoned in a hall of residence as one student after another tested positive for Covid; you struggled even to get food. Your lectures were all online – and remained so even long after the worst of the pandemic had passed (even now, 28 per cent of courses are being taught with ‘hybrid’ learning).

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