25 Jul Rishi Sunak’s crackdown on ‘rip off degrees’ follows former lecturer’s stinging criticism of universities
THE Prime Minister’s commitment to ‘cracking down on rip off degrees’ is a timely wake up call to some universities delivering an ‘outdated and worthless’ level of education, a former lecturer has claimed.
Yesterday (July 17), Rishi Sunak released a statement saying he is introducing new measures to prevent students being ripped off by their degree courses as it was revealed 30 per cent of graduates don’t progress into highly skilled jobs or further study on completion of their studies.
The PM’s claims come just over two weeks after Michael Knowles, who has taught at many universities across the UK in his former roles as a Google Digital Skills Trainer and Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Newcastle University, fired a warning to the government that university qualifications in many disciplines were in danger of becoming completely worthless.
Michael, the owner of Search Engine Marketing agency ROAR Digital Marketing, said: “Just a matter of weeks ago, I released a press statement claiming that university degrees were in danger of becoming worthless, prompted by the news that global giants such as Kellogg’s, Google and General Motors were removing degree requirements for most jobs.
“The Prime Minister’s statement about ‘rip off degrees’ has backed these claims up and is a huge wake up call for universities who have been short changing their students for far too long.
“It used to frustrate me to witness students being under served because their course material was so outdated and they were basically leaving university completely out of touch with the realities of their chosen industry.
“They were simply not receiving the highest level of education they deserved because they were being taught stuff which was either far too generic or theory-based, resulting in them being severely underprepared for full-time employment.
“In such a fast moving industry as digital marketing, many learnings can be out of date within three years so for universities to be teaching theory which is sometimes 10 years old shows how badly let down they were.
“It is clear for all to see that action is needed from central Government to better fund and support universities to prevent degrees becoming completely devalued, so let’s hope Mr Sunak is true to his word and follows through on his commitments for the benefit of our future talent pool.”
In yesterday’s statement, Mr Sunak promised to:
● Limit the number of students on university courses that have high dropout rates or don’t lead to good jobs;
● Slash the fees for foundation year classroom-based subjects;
● Improve access to apprenticeships, T Levels and skills bootcamps as often cheaper and more successful routes to better paid jobs.
Michael said: “There are various other excellent routes into employment, such as apprenticeships, so I am fully aware that a university degree isn’t the only way for young people to get a great job. But degrees need to represent good value for the extremely high tuition fees students are now required to pay.
“A university degree was designed to allow graduates to get ahead in employment with employers always desiring the qualification, and it is my opinion that their university studies should be challenging to give the student a strong sense of pride that their hard work has translated into good grades, that are actually worth something.”
He added: “Following a recent discussion with a senior member of my team, Cora Dixon, we hope that this is a step in the right direction of improving university standards, and not a backhanded way of the government using this as a way of cutting further into the creative and arts disciplines”.
ROAR Digital Marketing, which helps businesses accelerate growth through strategic search engine marketing, has experienced significant growth in its client base across the UK, and into Europe, in recent months.
