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In September 1999, Tony Blair set a goal for 50% of young adults to attend higher education institutions in the UK. In 2019, twenty years after the policy was announced, university attendance tipped over the 50% threshold.
However, in a world where many graduates work in non-graduate jobs, and where successive governments seek to develop further education in the UK, many have questioned the wisdom of this policy.
This week, we speak with Jack Britton, IFS education expert, and Professor Alison Wolf, Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management at Kings College London, to find out whether too many people are going to university.
Host
Paul Johnson
Paul has been the Director of the IFS since 2011. He is also currently visiting professor in the Department of Economics at University College London.
Participants
Jack Britton
Jack joined the IFS in 2013 and works in the Education and Skills sector. His main interests lie in human capital accumulation and discrete choice dynamic modelling. Jack's recent work has included analysis of the effect of replacing the EMA with the 16-19 Bursary in England on participation and attainment, measuring human capital of university graduates in England, and modelling the interaction between health and human capital.
Alison Wolf
Alison Wolf CBE is the Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management, and she sits as a cross-bench peer (Baroness Wolf of Dulwich) in the House of Lords. She specialises in the relationship between education and the labour market.
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