DEBATING MATTERS: ‘Skills Gap: are too many people going to university?’
Partners:
Debating Matters presents this special one-off debating competition showcase for the Battle of Ideas festival. Debating Matters has become renowned for its rigorous and intellectually challenging format – one that values substance over style and getting to grips with real-world issues. This year, Debating Matters students will debate whether the UK has a skills gap and if too many people are going to university.
Today, more than half of 18- to 30-year-olds go into higher education. Earlier this year, a report for the Tony Blair Institute argued that this should rise to 70 per cent by 2040, arguing that the government is wrong to solely emphasise ‘skills’ or technical education.
But others believe the numbers are already too high and that many degrees are poor value. According to Sir Peter Lampl, the founder and chair of the Sutton Trust, ‘there are too many kids going to university. Too many graduates come out with a lot of debt, and in many cases they come out with skills that the marketplace doesn’t want.’ He argues students would be ‘better served’ by doing an apprenticeship.
Who is right? Should there be a target for university attendance? Should we focus on wages and good jobs, regardless of whether a degree is needed? Or is university education about more than just getting a good job, like wider self-improvement or becoming a better-informed citizen?
DEBATE TEAMS:
Proposing the motion
Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School, Faversham
DEBATERS:
1. Kayla Howard-Tripp
2. Lilya Tillin
Teacher: Mr Tom Finn-Kelcey
Opposing the motion
DEBATERS:
1. Simona Raklevicius
2. Octavian Gopcalo
Teacher: Mr Toby Marshall
JUDGES:
chief executive, Federation of Awarding Bodies; presenter, Skills World Live; visiting professor of skills and workforce policy, Staffordshire University
professor of education, University of Derby; founder and director, Academics For Academic Freedom (AFAF); author, The Death of Academic Freedom? Free speech and censorship
chair, Communications & Digital Select Committee
Individual judge: Ben Fisher
information technology specialist; events organiser; campaigner
Get your tickets to the 2022 Battle of Ideas festival here.
