Richard Tillett: World of choice for the students studying their options

Yet even by the standards of the teaching profession, the current pace of change in university admissions is dizzying. The whole sector is being shaken up in a manner not seen for decades, and it is impossible to tell how it may look even a year from now. Government, professionals and pupils alike are all watching and trying to interpret the latest evidence to emerge. The reason for all this uncertainty is simple: tuition fees.

From this autumn, universities will be allowed to charge £9,000 per year for some of their courses, and most of the more competitive institutions will do just that. Even though none of this cost will be paid up-front, and is instead only repayable once the student is in employment and earning reasonably well after graduation, the perception is that going to university in this country may no longer be affordable or worthwhile. The latest data seem to bear that out: applications by this year’s deadline were down 8.7 per cent on last year.

There is much debate about the significance of this figure. The sharpest decline appears to be among those aged over 21, with applications from British 18-year-olds down only 3.6 per cent.

Ministers are also emphasising that number of applicants from the most deprived areas, to the surprise of many, has hardly dropped at all. What cannot be denied, however, is the speed with which alternatives to a conventional British university education are emerging.

These alternatives take many forms. Government apprenticeships are being heavily promoted, and may well be an attractive option to young people who might otherwise fear a future as “checkout graduates”, armed with a degree but precious little prospect of gaining a graduate job in these uncertain times. Some institutions, such as the College of Law, are offering two-year degree courses, saving their students a year’s fees. Interestingly, many sought-after graduate employers – including all of the “big four” accountancy firms – are going further, offering their own school leavers’ training programmes, complete with salary and degree equivalence, to those anxious to escape tuition fee debt altogether.

And then there is the overseas option. Never before has it been easier, or more attractive, to study for a degree abroad. Cheap flights make Europe as accessible as London, with a fraction of the cost of living once you get there. Many overseas universities also put ours to shame in terms of graduate employment rates (Hong Kong University’s is currently 99.8 per cent), and virtually all outside the United States charge much less than our £9,000 a year. Going abroad really is an option worth considering.

Foreign universities have been quick to identify this potentially rich seam of new recruits. In Europe, the number of courses taught in English is vast and growing, and some universities (such as Maastricht in the Netherlands) are almost entirely English-speaking. It is possible to train to be a doctor in Valencia or Milan, and then practise in the UK afterwards, without either the native language or the A-level grades that our own medical schools usually require. There is a well-developed network of American and international universities in almost every country of the EU which are now promoting themselves much more widely.

Many are looking still further afield. The “sticker price” of university in the USA may be entirely prohibitive for most British families, but very often this is not what is paid, due to the wide variety of scholarships and bursaries available. Universities in Canada, Australia and New Zealand can offer a very similar undergraduate experience to our own, minus the debt (and with much better weather). Thinking ahead to what the world of work will be like in twenty years’ time, there are strong arguments in favour of choosing a university in an Asian economic hub such as Hong Kong or Singapore, both of which boast English-medium institutions that rank among the 50 best universities in the world.

Where does all this leave our pupils? Very confused, if we are not careful. The situation is immensely complex and in a constant state of flux. The need for expert higher education advice has never been higher. Schools and careers advisors now need to step up, opening pupils’ minds to the opportunities around the world whilst keeping up to speed with the latest developments and a multitude of different entry processes.

Somewhere out there, though, is the right university course for every young person. It just may be that they have to globe trot to Harlem or Haarlem to find it.