GOING to university can be life-enhancing — but it depends on the institution. Now the Government is to limit numbers at universities and colleges where too few students complete their course or obtain skilled or well-paying jobs within 15 months of graduation. In a year when many university lecturers have gone on strike and refused to mark the exam papers on which students’ results are based, many undergraduates will be reflecting ruefully on whether a degree is all it’s meant to be.
The restrictions on numbers at poor university courses is a belated response to a drastic inflation in the numbers at university since Tony Blair’s time in office. A review commissioned by Theresa May in 2019 recommended these reforms, and also a reduction in tuition fees — but that’s not happening. The problem of too many students doing poor degrees is not only a problem for them — thwarted expectations and large debt — but also for the taxpayer. If those students do not earn enough to pay back their loans, we are all out of pocket.
The reforms arguably don’t go far enough: if institutions really are poor, they should probably be closed. But the money saved should be diverted to good universities, of which we have many. Labour is wrong to suggest that this move will close opportunities. The Government is also making it easier for businesses to take on young people for training. Apprenticeships shrank while university numbers exploded. That needs to change.
The Met’s shame
THIRTY-SIX years ago, private investigator Daniel Morgan was found dead in a Sydenham car park with an axe embedded in his head. Now the Met has paid his family a record £2 million for the grotesque corruption and incompetence that characterised the investigation. This was the most investigated case in British history, with five police inquiries and a cost of £50 million. An independent panel found the Met was institutionally corrupt and had repeatedly covered up its failings to protect its reputation and that later investigations did not properly follow new leads or examine corruption claims. So, more than three decades on, the killers of Morgan are still at large. This is a cause for shame and must be a spur for reform.
Jane Birkin, Londoner
JANE BIRKIN, born in Marylebone, was arguably the best-loved Englishwoman in France. She was famous for a handbag, a suggestive song, a stellar acting career and colossal style. She graced Paris but is a credit to London.
