Judge universities on jobs, not just degrees

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the UK has 39 months of declining job vacancies in the economy - not something we've ever seen before, even in the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 or the Covid pandemic.

At Finito Education, where we have helped thousands of first-time job hunters transition from education to employment, we are finding intense competition for every single role.

It's not good enough these days to send out your CV or approach some employers on LinkedIn. Many candidates who come to us haven't received a single response to hundreds of applications.

They've received no feedback on how to improve their chances of landing a job, and many are deeply demoralised.

In my experience, this problem begins with education. Schools, colleges and universities are only interested in the qualifications their students leave with.

As long as their exam results are good enough for them to attract the next cohort, that's all they really care about.

Instead, they should be judged on what happens to their alumni after they leave. This, after all, is what really counts. How ready are school and university leavers for the world of work? Sadly, too many are woefully unprepared and unsupported. If they don't find a job, they won't find a purpose in life - with all the risks that brings in terms of mental health.

The Government is proposing to put job mentors and coaches into doctors' surgeries to help people on long-term sickness benefits. This is all well and good, but I would argue that we need to start far earlier. Unless we actually do something to support young people after they have left education, this situation is going to persist. We need a relentless new focus on what happens next.

Schools, colleges and universities should be required to follow up and help the young people they have turned out into the world for at least 12 months and potentially longer. Alumni associations shouldn't just focus on socialising and fundraising, but on careers advice. A small number of institutions already do this. If you do a master's at LSE, Cranfield or Hult Ashridge, you'll find employers falling over themselves to hire you.

That's because these institutions have some of the best aftercare in the country. We need that everywhere.

I strongly support the idea that university tuition fees should be varied based on students' actual employment outcomes. The better the support you offer, the more valuable the degree and the more you should be able to charge. I also think school league tables need to be overhauled to make student outcomes the single most important factor.

In short, the current graduate and school leaver labour market demands a systemic upgrade of our entire education-to-employment pipeline. The facts are clear: while some graduates will, against significant odds, secure meaningful work, only 59 per cent of recent UK graduates were in full-time employment 15 months after leaving higher education. Outcomes at some institutions and for certain subjects are significantly worse.

Far too many young people are leaving schools, colleges and universities without the readiness to navigate applications, understand work culture, build networks or convert their potential into actual jobs.

If we treat education simply as a dispenser of qualifications rather than as a launchpad into meaningful careers, we remain complicit in failing young people.

Ultimately, the message to government, education institutions and employers is this: fixing education to employment routes for young people is not optional - it is foundational to social mobility, economic growth and young people’s own wellbeing.

Every school that leaves a child adrift, every degree that places little or no emphasis on employability, every institution that treats alumni simply as donors, not as young people needing support to forge their careers - all these reinforce the cycle of frustration we are seeing, where hopeful candidates send CV after CV but receive no response. This cannot continue.

If we genuinely want the next generation to thrive and not just survive, we must measure, reward, and deliver a meaningful transition into work. Because ultimately, education without employment is opportunity lost.

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Ronel Lehmann is the founder and CEO of Finito Education.

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