The problem still stands, if they wish to address it, that students from the past three years who have graduated-with decent degrees, still have not been able to secure graduate roles. Myself included. And it is not due to a lack of perseverance, quite the contrary.
I recently worked in an office environment. One day I overheard a conversation between colleagues about graduates apparently saying 'there are no jobs'. Their argument consisted of their belief that there were plenty of jobs out there for graduates, which is in some respects true, but that graduates were too lazy to look for them. The problem, I believe, is that there is not the kind of job a graduate seeks to gain which is available, or rather the majority of graduate roles are based in the expensive location of central London.
I found their outlook quite ignorant in the fact they were saying graduates were lazy job hunters. As a prime example myself, there I was working in their office as a temp-helping them do their menial tasks whilst gaining an understanding of the business, within a company that does actually run a graduate scheme. Perhaps an opportunity some graduates would love to hold. But I don't particularly want to work in engineering-and I probably wouldn't meet the selection with my Cultural Studies degree. But still, I was working, whilst holding onto the prospect of eventually finding a graduate career.
I believe the main reason it has been so hard is actually due to the costs the employer faces to train up new graduates with the skills and experience which are needed for their entry level role.
Therefore, I do not believe it is viable to ask students to pay even more for an education which may not secure them the vital skills for them to enter the realm of employability. They may as well avoid the debt of a student and tuition fee loan and use the 3-4 years they would have spent studying in the workplace gaining experience. We may have the knowledge, but no one will support us to help us gain the skills!
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