As the digital age and robotic technology continue to reshape industry, does higher education need a dramatic rethink" Charlotte Phillips investigates
Nobody ever said that making decisions about higher education was easy. Indeed, working out the ideal combination of a brilliant university and a perfect course can tie even the keenest of brains into knots.
Not that Sixth Formers have been put off, with the latest figures from UCAS showing that applications from 18-year-olds, still by far the largest group to apply for full-time undergraduate places, are holding reasonably steady. But for a demographic blip (numbers of 18-year-olds have dropped slightly), the figure would probably have been higher still.
That said, any degree has to be worth far more than the paper it?s written on. Today?s graduates aren?t just likely to be working well into their sixties and beyond, but also mixing up and checking off a whole range of career choices. Above, students at Imperial College can now attend its new West London campus in White City
Time for change
Take the old nursery rhyme that lists a variety of professions: ?soldier, sailor, tinker or tailor?. Today, an energetic and suitably-skilled graduate could, in theory, cover the whole lot. And that?s without factoring all the new industries that could transform employment prospects in the future.
So, as the pace continues to accelerate, is it time for a dramatic rethink of higher education" Universities are already doing a l...