Been to 'uni'? Who cares!

Never has a word entered the English language that has made me more disappointed in the Oxford English Dictionary. But now a new word has seeped through British culture and is now in use from every studenty-type with long hair, growing debt and a laziness that would challenge even the sloth.


And that word is... uni.

In 1992, the number of universities in Britain almost doubled, as 38 former polytechnic schools or colleges changed status and names - ending a distinction that had existed for hundreds of years.

Now, you an get a degree from anywhere - the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), Northumbria, University of East Anglia and a whole host of other 'unis' which have sprung up.

Almost 50per cent of school leavers now attend a university - many of whom go to uni to do what would, 15 years ago, have been a vocational course (see BsC Glass at Sunderland Uni for example) and come out with a degree.

The idea was quite simply ridiculous. The very notion that if we hand out degrees like sweets at a fun fair, we would make our nation more intelligent was, well, just wrong.

With 50per cent of 19-26 year olds now gettng a degree whether from Oxford and Cambridge or from Middle-of-Nowhere uni, there are far too many graduates on the job market.

A graduate used to be able to walk into a well-paid job, employed safe in the knowledge that he or she had had the very best education and was the best candidate for the job. Nut now, Sainsbury's are getting just as many graduates apply to be check-out girls as some of Britain's top companies.

And why? Because a degree is almost worthless - almost everyone has them now. We (and yes, I am a student) spend three or four years shielded from the real world living off state and parental handouts to get our degrees but, after three or four years of partying/studying (delete as appropriate) we are no better prepared to go out to work.

There is little to distinguish between people academically as governments try year on year to put more and more underacheivers into Uni simply to pad out their statistics - all the while making a bigger and bigger profit on student debt.

Surely it is time they realised that, in order for the cream to rise to the top, there needs to be more stringent selection and we need to stop handing out degrees in Celebrity Studies and, yes it does exist, BsC David Beckham.

Universities offering opportunities for only the brightest young students? What a novel idea, who'd have thunk it? And technical colleges offering good, useful vocational courses - why, by George, I think I'm on to something here!