At a time when trust in many British institutions is strained, our new research with UCL Policy Lab, Shared Institutions, finds that universities remain a source of national pride. Most Britons say universities are good for the country, but growing divides in public opinion show the sector cannot take this goodwill for granted.
Britons are positive about the university sector on a national and local level
At a time in which Britons broadly see the country as broken, the public lack faith in many institutions, and seven in ten think that the country is getting worse, universities stand out as an area that the public views with relative positivity. While there are some real concerns, the picture is broadly a positive one.
Most people see universities as a net good for Britain: 63 per cent say universities have a positive impact on the country, just 6 per cent say negative, while a quarter say they have neither a positive nor negative impact. This translates at a local level, with three in five (61 per cent) of those who live near a university saying it has a positive impact on their community.
Asked who benefits from universities, Britons are similarly positive: 59 per cent say that universities are good for the country on the whole, compared to a quarter (26 per cent) who think they are only good for those who attend them.
Asked about the most important roles that universities have to play in society, national responsibilities naturally rise to the top of the list: the top answer, selected by half (49 per cent) of Britons, is training professionals (teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers). This is raised consistently in focus groups; Britons clearly see training the next generation of professionals as universities’ primary purpose.
The second most important role that Britons see for universities is medical and scientific research, which 37 per cent select. University research is not something that emerges unprompted frequently in focus groups, yet when it does it is often seen as a key role that universities play - particularly in relation to medical and technological breakthroughs.
They can look more long-term, they can take more risks and that because it is just research and so it could lead to a breakthrough or it could lead to nothing, but they're the ones with licenced and it's not going to make or break the profits that they can give to their shareholders or whatever it is or whether they can get re-elected. It is not changing that. It's just let's go. Let's see where this leads us.
Joseph, asset manager, Essex
For the public, the individual motives for attending university are twofold: Britons see it both in terms of career development, and also of personal growth and development.
One in three people (34 per cent) say helping students grow personally and become independent adults is a key role of universities, while a similar share (31 per cent) say providing students with skills for the workplace and 30 per cent cite broadening people’s minds, and expanding their horizons.
Graduates and parents of students are more likely than the public overall to highlight these roles.
Cracks emerging
While Britons are broadly positive about our university system, there is a clear graduate gap in attitudes.
Among those who attended university, four in five (81 per cent) believe universities have a positive impact on the country as a whole, compared to just 55 per cent of those who did not attend university. Non-graduates are also nearly twice as likely as graduates to believe that universities only benefit those who attend them, more likely to believe they are rigged to serve the rich, and far less likely to believe that universities have become more accessible for working class students.
Bridging this gap would require universities to demonstrate their value more clearly, both by showing the impact of research and economic contribution, and by proving greater accessibility and fairness in admissions.
A political consensus under threat?
While views of the university system are less polarised than for other British institutions – and universities have not become the centre of a culture war as they have in some other countries – Reform UK supporters are notably critical of higher education.
Compared to 59 per cent of the public as a whole, less than half (45 per cent) of Reform voters say universities benefit the country as a whole, while 36 per cent say they only benefit the students who attend them, and 9 per cent say they do not benefit anyone.
The value of degrees is the central concern for the public
While campus culture war debates and free speech rows often garner headlines, the public’s primary concerns about our universities are related to the value of a degree. Nearly half of Britons (47 per cent) believe too many low-quality degrees are offered.
From focus group conversations, it's clear that this concern is often driven by a sense that many degrees do not translate into job opportunties, and that high university attendance risks diluting the value of degrees.
Seven in ten (71 per cent) would prefer a focus on vocational education to investing in expanding university attendance.
Across politics, age and educational background a majority of Britons support the government’s decision to drop the 50 per cent university attendance target.
In hindsight, if I could go back, I probably would not go to university because reason being, because like I said, I'm working with people who have not been to university the differences, but we're on same salaries, but the difference is I've got a hundred grand debt and they don't.
Wasif, pharmaceutical manager, Manchester
Balancing the books
Concerns about the financial future of universities have cut through: 42 per cent of Britons say they are worried about universities closing down, and 53 per cent believe that this is likely to happen in the coming years.
For the public, these challenges should be shared between the Government and the universities themselves. Asked who is responsible for fixing universities’ financial challenges, only 13 per cent think universities themselves should be ‘entirely’ responsible; even fewer (6 per cent) believe that the Government is solely responsible. The majority of Britons believe there is some balance of responsibility between the two, including more than half (51 per cent) who think that universities and the Government are equally responsible.
But while the public want a balance of responsibility, it’s clear that for Britons, this balance should lean toward universities, with 31 per cent saying universities are entirely or mostly responsible compared to 18 per cent who say the same about the Government.
Universities face a challenge in tackling their financial difficulties without further undermining the perception that degrees have lost their value. In focus groups, parents of students share their children’s experiences and lament the impact of cost-cutting measures like redundancy or reduced contact hours. For some, these are sometimes seen as direct symptoms of a financially unsustainable sector, and proof that going to university is no longer worth the fees.
As a parent, they don't seem to be making any money, sort of making staff redundant, shutting down departments or the rest of it. Also, all the lectures seem to be online, so children don't actually need to go. They can just catch up whenever they feel like it and it just seems very, very expensive for what you're getting.
Laura, director, Swansea
While increasing fees is unpopular, the Government’s approach of tying rises to new quality standards can help to neutralise this opposition: using a split sample experiment (in which half of respondents are shown a message about tuition fees rising with inflation, and the other half see a message that includes mention of “high quality education and good outcomes for students”), opposition to tuition fee rises drops from 49 per cent to 37 per cent, while support rises from 25 per cent to 32 per cent