What are the real benefits of Higher Education?
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Our presenter and executive Moj Taylor gives a helpful overview of all things higher education. Outlining what a higher education institution is, what it can offer you, what you can gain from it and what you can expect when applying.
Have a look towards the end of the video for a handy list of advantages that higher education can offer you. |
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Push's 90 second guide:
Why go to uni?
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If you've got UCAS on your mind, use our resource page to help you decide which university and decide which course is right for you. We can help you with how to write about how awesome you are (personal statement style). As well as hinting at how you can ace an interview, we also have specialised topics like clearing, applying for Oxford or Cambridge, for a Design course, or even if you're an international student thinking about studying over in the UK.
Even if you've got a place on a course you'll still have questions on the tip of your tongue, but don't panic, we can walk you through everything from Student Finance, the different types of accommodation, the joys of uni life to the very latest revision and study tips. |
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WHY BOTHER?
If you know what you want to do with your life and you’ve got it all planned past the degree to the career, the wedding, the 2.4 kids, the mortgage and the pension, then a degree’s bound to help you get it.
If not — and, let’s face it, that’s most of us — then university’s still going to help. Firstly, because it’ll help when you’ve decided. And secondly, because it'll give you skills and qualifications to go far.
If not — and, let’s face it, that’s most of us — then university’s still going to help. Firstly, because it’ll help when you’ve decided. And secondly, because it'll give you skills and qualifications to go far.
IS UNIVERSITY WORTH IT?
A degree will cost you the following:
Nevertheless, financially, what do you get for your investment?
Financial case closed, Push thinks.
Please note: All our figures were correct at the time of writing, but they all change almost every year and some more often than that.
- The debt you end up with when you graduate – currently running at around £27,000 by the time you get through the system (based on having to pay back three years’ worth of tuition fees and taking out the maximum non-London student loan each year).
- The money you could have earned during your years as a student minus any money you do earn as a student. For the average 18, 19 or 20-year-old in full-time employment, that averages around £13,000 a year. Take off the money students earn on average – this can vary a lot depending on whether they work in term-time, holidays or both, but let’s stay on the very safe side and say a couple of grand – and that’s about £37,000.
Nevertheless, financially, what do you get for your investment?
- You will have greater earning power. A few years after graduation, most degree-holders are earning more than people of the same age without a degree.
- Four out of five students – that’s the people who are scrimping by and running up debts – say that going to university is worth it and that they’ll earn more as a result.
- Ten years after graduating, men earn 30% more and women 46% more on average than non-graduates.
- Your income will rise more rapidly and steeply. Most graduates start off earning at least £15,000 and the average for a graduate scheme in a big company is more like £22,000. Promotional prospects are far greater.
- One in five big graduate employers offer starting salaries of more than £25,000.
- Your chances of ever being unemployed will be cut in half.
- You’ll have a wider range of career options open to you, whatever your subject.
- A graduate is expected to pull in £150,000 more over their working life than someone who went out to work with two A levels. In fact, according to the Government, a graduate will earn an average of £400,000 more over their working life than someone who didn’t go to university.
Financial case closed, Push thinks.
Please note: All our figures were correct at the time of writing, but they all change almost every year and some more often than that.
What Do you enjoy doing?
Apart from setting you up with the right qualifications, there’s another advantage to studying something vaguely appropriate to what you might want to do with the rest of your life: it’s a free sample. If you don’t enjoy three years of an engineering degree, you’re sure-as-hell not going to enjoy spending the next 35 years as an engineer.
So, if your future’s not yet set in stone, the most important element of your course is that you enjoy it. It’s one thing to study three A Levels for two years — it’s another to study the same degree subject for three.
Remember, one in seven students flunk. There are as many reasons why as there are students who drop out, but it’s no help if you find your course about as much fun as a chilli enema.
So, if your future’s not yet set in stone, the most important element of your course is that you enjoy it. It’s one thing to study three A Levels for two years — it’s another to study the same degree subject for three.
Remember, one in seven students flunk. There are as many reasons why as there are students who drop out, but it’s no help if you find your course about as much fun as a chilli enema.
steroids for the rat race
Careers that require qualifications
Certain careers can be followed only by graduates. Doctors have to know enough about medicine. Lawyers have to know the law. Teachers have to well, let’s just say that teachers have to have the right qualifications, too.
You can add to that list dentists, vets, pharmacists, accountants, architects, university professors, most of the civil service, teachers and social workers and a whole load of others. All jobs that pay well and command respect.
Anyhow, if you want one of these jobs (and many others besides) or, think you might want one someday, a degree’s a must. Or, more than one degree in most cases, but you gotta start somewhere. For more information on choosing a course click here.
Other careers
Apart from the jobs that need particular qualifications, there are plenty of professions — the media, IT, scientific research, tourism and heritage, finance, marketing and almost anything based in an office — where getting in without a degree is like convincing nightclub bouncers that your football t-shirt and trainers combo is smart wear. It might be possible, but it’s not worth the hassle of not wearing trainers and footie shirt in the first place.
Most graduates end up in these kinds of jobs, but wouldn’t have done if they hadn’t been to university.
Whatever the job
In the rat race, having a degree is the equivalent of a 25-metre headstart and roller skates.
Not only does it help you land a job in the first place, but, once you’re in the job, sometimes a degree really does help to improve your performance. You might have a specific grasp of whatever you’re supposed to be doing but, even if you don’t, studying at university will inevitably equip you with research skills, analytical ability and a bit of initiative — all those things that employers like.
Even if a degree doesn’t help you to do your job, most people think it does. Either way, it helps you get promoted and cleans some of the slippery stuff off the greasy pole.
These days, though, being promoted isn’t necessarily the best way to get on. Most people change jobs almost as often as underwear and it holds you back if, every time you want to switch, you’re the applicant without a degree.
Certain careers can be followed only by graduates. Doctors have to know enough about medicine. Lawyers have to know the law. Teachers have to well, let’s just say that teachers have to have the right qualifications, too.
You can add to that list dentists, vets, pharmacists, accountants, architects, university professors, most of the civil service, teachers and social workers and a whole load of others. All jobs that pay well and command respect.
Anyhow, if you want one of these jobs (and many others besides) or, think you might want one someday, a degree’s a must. Or, more than one degree in most cases, but you gotta start somewhere. For more information on choosing a course click here.
Other careers
Apart from the jobs that need particular qualifications, there are plenty of professions — the media, IT, scientific research, tourism and heritage, finance, marketing and almost anything based in an office — where getting in without a degree is like convincing nightclub bouncers that your football t-shirt and trainers combo is smart wear. It might be possible, but it’s not worth the hassle of not wearing trainers and footie shirt in the first place.
Most graduates end up in these kinds of jobs, but wouldn’t have done if they hadn’t been to university.
Whatever the job
In the rat race, having a degree is the equivalent of a 25-metre headstart and roller skates.
Not only does it help you land a job in the first place, but, once you’re in the job, sometimes a degree really does help to improve your performance. You might have a specific grasp of whatever you’re supposed to be doing but, even if you don’t, studying at university will inevitably equip you with research skills, analytical ability and a bit of initiative — all those things that employers like.
Even if a degree doesn’t help you to do your job, most people think it does. Either way, it helps you get promoted and cleans some of the slippery stuff off the greasy pole.
These days, though, being promoted isn’t necessarily the best way to get on. Most people change jobs almost as often as underwear and it holds you back if, every time you want to switch, you’re the applicant without a degree.
employment rates
Some universities run great courses, but six months after graduation, a third of the students are either unemployed or doing the kind of McJob they could have got before they went to university.
On the other hand, when a department does things like offer sandwich courses or projects with local businesses, it usually helps the move into jobdom. Some departments have such a high reputation and such good relationships with business and industry that the students get their first pay cheque almost as soon as the ink's dry on the degree.
If the only reason you want to go to university is to have a high-flying career, the employment rate is critical. Even if the big career picture is anywhere in the frame, it's important.
Employment rates are often broken down into destinations, listing, for example, how many graduates have a job, how many have gone on to do more studying, how many have left the country and so on — sometimes even detailing how many have jobs as opposed to real careers (although that's a toughie to measure).
The employment rate doesn't happen by accident or even simply by the university's reputation. Universities all run careers offices, but that name represents a variety spanning from a little old lady who thinks 'tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor' constitutes an exhaustive list of careers options to vast banks of advisers armed with databases, websites, psychometric tests, interview practice and, no doubt, direct access to the hiring manager who will get you in, no problem (as long as you've demonstrated willing, personable and practical skills).
Particularly if your chosen degree is not naturally vocational, the help you get finding a career may prove critical. (Careers offices, which help students into employment after graduation, should not be confused with 'jobshops', which help students get part-time or temp work.)
On the other hand, when a department does things like offer sandwich courses or projects with local businesses, it usually helps the move into jobdom. Some departments have such a high reputation and such good relationships with business and industry that the students get their first pay cheque almost as soon as the ink's dry on the degree.
If the only reason you want to go to university is to have a high-flying career, the employment rate is critical. Even if the big career picture is anywhere in the frame, it's important.
Employment rates are often broken down into destinations, listing, for example, how many graduates have a job, how many have gone on to do more studying, how many have left the country and so on — sometimes even detailing how many have jobs as opposed to real careers (although that's a toughie to measure).
The employment rate doesn't happen by accident or even simply by the university's reputation. Universities all run careers offices, but that name represents a variety spanning from a little old lady who thinks 'tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor' constitutes an exhaustive list of careers options to vast banks of advisers armed with databases, websites, psychometric tests, interview practice and, no doubt, direct access to the hiring manager who will get you in, no problem (as long as you've demonstrated willing, personable and practical skills).
Particularly if your chosen degree is not naturally vocational, the help you get finding a career may prove critical. (Careers offices, which help students into employment after graduation, should not be confused with 'jobshops', which help students get part-time or temp work.)
PUSh's 90 second guide:
First In my Family to Go to Uni
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So you're the first in your family to go to Uni? Well done! Although you might feel like you have nobody to ask advice from. This may feel daunting but don't panic, it'll all work out ok. Here's Aron to tell you his experience...