After the CIPD called for a national debate on the number of graduates in the UK, Mike Hall believes the picture is still not clear and wants more research
Student advice service Prospects has issued a response to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) new report on the ‘over-qualification and skills mismatch in the graduate labour market’
Chief executive Mike Hall has issued a statement in which he asserts that further research is required, after CIPD CEO Richard Cheese referred the report as a wake up call.
“The CIPD report demonstrates that the task of working out what a ‘graduate job’ is and what ‘graduate skills’ might be is extremely challenging, and is not, as yet, concluded,” said Hall. “As much of the data is only partially suited to this difficult job, it’s misleading to conclude that the majority of UK university graduates are ‘over-qualified’. It would be unfortunate if this all that readers take from the paper.
“The report doesn’t reflect that a university education is about so much more than job training. It adds up to more than basic economic value and has significant and profound social benefits as well, to individuals and to society at large.
“We need to see more and better research on the general social value of university education so that we can ensure young people get a full, rounded picture of the benefits or otherwise of going to university, rather than a persistent focus on one complex issue – that of the ‘graduate job’ – which aims to hit a small, rapidly moving target that forms only part of a much bigger picture.
“Prospects maintains the view that a university education remains the best and most effective way to equip workers with the skills to adapt to rapid technological and economic change – a key labour market challenge.”
The OECD has consistently shown that the graduate wage premia has remained high and stable in the UK and is the same in Germany and the UK. Research by Professor Ian Walker for BIS shows that returns did not change as a result of the expansion in HE in the UK. None of this is consistent with huge over-supply. It is true that a significant minority go into non-graduate jobs on some measures, but defining a graduate job is trying to hit a moving target and the labour market where there is a perfect match has not been invented. The report is right to call for more investment in vocational education and training so young people have a choice between two good quality options but the CIPD analysis is questionable.