1 in 3 graduates overqualified for their job
The value of a university education has been called into question by an international study which found that almost one in three graduates ends up in jobs they are overqualified for. In England, 28 per cent of graduates have jobs that do not require a degree, the study discovered.
THE value of a university education has been called into question by an international study, which found that almost one in three graduates end up in jobs they are overqualified for.
In England, 28 per cent of graduates have jobs which do not require a degree, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This is double the average proportion for OECD countries (14 per cent), and second only to Japan (29 per cent).
The report notes the percentage of British 25 to 34-year-olds going to university has leapt from 43 per cent in 2007 to 52 per cent last year – 2016 was the first year that more than half of the population went to university.
Andreas Schleicher, OECD’S director of education and skills, said that while young people in England were increasingly entering the jobs market with a degree, many graduates remained unable to cope with even “basic” maths.
“Some people with degrees don’t have the right skills – numeracy and literacy,” he said.
“You would label them as overqualified, but they may not be overskilled. I am not talking about somebody doing advanced mathematical analysis or reasoning, these are pretty basic numeracy skills.
“And you ask yourself how people could leave the school system with those skills, and then how can they make their way not only into, but even out of, higher education with a degree.”
The study also found that 70 per cent of all graduates – the highest of any country – fail to repay their loan in full after 30 years, leaving the taxpayer to pick up the outstanding amount. The report notes that this represents an “additional cost for the public sector, which extends and guarantees the loans”.
It comes as data presented to the British Sociological Association suggests that for some female students, going to university is only worth it if they attend a Russell Group institution. Women from wealthier backgrounds were less likely to find a secure job if they had gone to a “nonelite” university than if they had no degree at all, the analysis found.
Maria Holcekova, who carried out the research at Essex University, said the pattern did not apply for men.
However, the data did show that men from privileged backgrounds were more likely to be doing shift work at age 25 than those without a degree, and those who studied arts and humanities were less likely to have a full-time job than their equivalents without a degree.