For many years, going to university has been a given for ambitious individuals from all backgrounds, providing knowledge, soft skills, and perhaps most crucially a key to the corporate world in the form of a certificate. But, as the value of a degree decreases and in a world which threatens to be upended by new technologies such as artificial intelligence, it begs the question: is university now outdated?
Practical degrees such as medicine are certainly valuable – you wouldn’t want your heart surgeon to have completed only half of their degree because they found the anterior cruciate ligament particularly boring. But for many, obtaining a university degree is about signalling: a proof of pre-existing competency rather than a signifier of new skills.
Recent changes to university tuition fees mean that, with recent changes, it is now hugely expensive for the individual students. Forecasts suggest the average student in 2023/24 will have to stomach over £50,000 of debt, despite only 36% of graduates report finding their degree relevant to their current role. Many describe university debt as a ‘graduate tax’, but with the number of UK students expected to pay back their loans in full doubling to 52%, as well as the increasing cost of living, students are facing unprecedented financial pressure.
Tuition fees have risen without an obvious improvement in the quality of education. Students in England reportedly receive fewer contact hours than universities in other countries, per a recent survey by the Higher Education Policy Institute. For those attending many private universities in the US, the situation is worse by an order of magnitude, with undergraduates often paying $80,000 per year for tuition, without anywhere near the same levels of state support.
In reality, employers still prioritise degrees from prestigious institutions irrespective of what was taught. With 75% of new jobs requiring a degree, ‘signalling’ culture clearly dominates modern hiring. The process of completing a degree is supposed to demonstrate dedication and intelligence, yet there is a compelling argument that it is often an arbitrary screening method used by employers. Although companies want evidence of determination, an undergraduate degree spanning three to four years seems an excessively costly method of assessing it.
Recent attempts have been made to experiment with different forms of higher education, but none have yet scaled to seriously compete with universities. For example, there are accelerated degrees spanning two years, but due to their perceived lower quality of education and value to employers, they have thus far failed to garner popularity. The recently founded London Interdisciplinary School, for example, allows students to explore topics without the boundaries of subjects, but with the institution still in its infancy, and its effectiveness remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, the pace of AI innovation is changing everything. The question of what subject to study in such a rapidly evolving world is a source of major uncertainty. There is a very real possibility that much of the content within many degrees (e.g. engineering, architecture, law) could quickly be made redundant by AI and other future technologies. The prospect of spending vast quantities of money on the ‘university experience’, just to graduate into a career with waning needs for human expertise or intervention, would be a shocking waste of human capital.
Just as the dawn of the internet allowed developers to create their own software startups from their garages or bedrooms, so too is AI further democratising the ability of individuals to create their own businesses. A US study found that 61% of Americans have a viable business idea, but lack the skills or confidence to bring their dream to fruition. Many argue that as AI models improve and become more specialised, the pipeline from the ideation stage to the final product will accelerate, allowing less technical and perhaps more creative founders to be successful.
Entrepreneurship should also be encouraged as a realistic alternative for ambitious students. Despite the idolisation of edge-case teenage drop-out successes such as Mark Zuckerburg and Steve Jobs, forming a startup is still considered extremely risky. Yet never before has becoming an entrepreneur been so easy, thanks to the platform provided by the internet and the support of accelerators. For example, in its 19-year lifetime, Y combinator has incubated companies whose combined value exceeds a staggering $600bn. The success of Y combinator will pave the way for other accelerators, producing more opportunities for budding entrepreneurs.
University is so deeply entrenched within society that many disregard the hiking costs and the unproductive nature of many degrees, while ignoring alternatives. The negative signalling around passing up on university must change, if we are to tempt young talent away from years of low-impact corporate climbing, and into entrepreneurship. Because in the words of Paul Graham, “for the most ambitious young people, the corporate ladder is obsolete”.