The Association of Graduate Recruiters has published a general election manifesto calling on all political parties to abolish the target for getting 50 per cent of all under 30s into higher education.

According to Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, “the [50%] target has affected standards and damaged the quality of the student university experience”.  Writing in The Telegraph, Gilleard says that the aim should be for young people to study at universities “on the basis of academic ability and achievement”.  So, should the emphasis be on quantity or quality?  Is the 50% benchmark a fatalistic target to set and is it pushing down university standards in order to achieve that goal?  Or are we raising the general standard of education within the UK by encouraging more youngsters to increase the level of their skills?

Professor Steve Smith, president of Universities UK and vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter, and Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters, talked to BBC Radio 4 to debate whether the rising number of university graduates is devaluing degrees.  Listen here.