Sir Peter Lampl: Life-changing, if you choose wisely

Yesterday’s IFS report confirmed earlier evidence that, on average, graduates earn more than those who don’t go to university.

But it also brought into sharp focus the importance of doing the right degree, and going to the best university if you want to earn a higher income.

The Sutton Trust was founded in 1997 to improve social mobility through education. Our own research had already shown the differences between universities, but the new report does so in greater detail than ever before. Indeed, we have also shown that doing a degree-level apprenticeship is as good – or better – on average for your earnings than most degree courses and you earn while you learn, so you end up with no or very little debt.

When student debts average £44,000, there will be those who argue that teenagers should give university a miss. But that would be to misread the data. Rather than giving up on university, it is more important than ever that young people choose wisely and have the information to do so.

The Sutton Trust takes 2,000 bright 17 year-olds from low or middle income homes to our residential summer schools at leading universities to encourage them to think about applying to the very universities shown by the IFS to be linked to higher earnings.

Young people also need better advice from their teachers about going on the right course at the right university, if they are to make informed decisions. University can be life-changing if they choose wisely.

For many young people, going to university will be the right decision. For others, a better choice would be an apprenticeship, the best of which are linked to universities as well as employers. The decision must be the right one for them.

At the same time, however, we need to dig deeper into one worrying finding of this week’s research. Poorer graduates with the same degrees as richer graduates earn less. That can’t be right or fair.

So, we need to do much more to equip all young people with the skills that those from better off homes take for granted. That means universities and businesspeople doing more to facilitate properly-advertised paid internships. It means building essential skills such as confidence, communication, teamwork and perseverance in those who too often lack what employers are looking for, despite their degrees.

And it means employers focusing on talent wherever it comes from, not just in their own narrow networks.

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