It’s that time of year again: freshers’ week is fast approaching and soon a new generation of students will pack up their duvets and newly purchased kettles to begin a fresh chapter of life. For those who remember their own journey, the nostalgia is difficult to suppress: the fear, the adrenaline, the strange single bed waiting at the end of a motorway. University was the next step on the road to independence after the preceding years of important firsts – late-night parties, kisses, exam results – and a chance to prove yourself away from home comforts. For this year’s cohort of students, it’s a different story.
Because, let’s face it, they haven’t had it easy so far. These are the teens whose lives were radically changed by the Covid-19 pandemic; denied those all-important inaugural parties and first trips abroad and, last month, told by Rishi Sunak that they had been “sold a false dream” as he put a cap on the number of students allowed to take a “low-value degree” in England. Senior government ministers also spoke about how university wasn’t all that important now – a complete reversal on the push by most governments across the world to increase rates of secondary school completion and the number of people going into higher education.
Over the past 20 years studying, teaching and working in academic settings, I’ve seen enough first-hand to know that the odds really are stacked against this next generation of prospective graduates – and, potentially, what might help them. So what advice would I give?
