Milburn review: ‘schools pushing too many students to university’

Going to university is “too often” positioned as the default for school-leavers at the expense of alternatives that could better prepare young people for the labour market, a major review has found.

An interim report on youth unemployment by former health secretary Alan Milburn has suggested that further education “plays second fiddle” to higher education, with per-student funding remaining about £2,000 lower for the former. 

With more than one million people aged 16 to 24 in the UK currently not in education, employment or training (NEET), Milburn warned that the country is “at risk of a lost generation”. 

Compared with countries in the European Union, only Romania has a higher NEET rate than the UK, the report found, and suggests that the figure could rise to 1.25 million by 2031 without intervention. 

Milburn writes that a “concerning proportion” of the NEET population hold a degree or other higher education qualification, at about 13 per cent. 

“The education system produces qualifications but does not guarantee transitions [into the workforce],” the report says. 

However, it also found that those who have a degree are likely to be out of work for a shorter time than their peers without one. 

But the report warned that while university may not be the best path for everyone, it is often pushed by schools as “the most valued route”.

“The question is not whether higher education is valuable,” the report says. “It is whether it is too often being positioned as the default at the expense of high-quality alternatives that might serve some young people better.”

Although the numbers of people accessing further and adult education have declined in recent years, more young people are participating in higher education, with the entry rate for 18-year-olds increasing from 24.7 per cent in 2006 to 36.3 per cent in 2025.

Although the interim report stops short of making formal recommendations, Milburn told the Financial Times ahead of its publication that “a better balance is needed” between higher and further education. “We have to ask hard questions about whether we are allocating resources in the right way.”

Responding to the report in The Times, prime minister Keir Starmer said “too many young people are being pushed into [university] courses that don’t deliver the outcomes they were promised, missing out on high-quality alternatives while racking up debt”. 

He said the government would “finally put apprenticeships and technical education on an equal footing with university degrees”. 

Vanessa Wilson, chief executive of University Alliance, criticised Starmer's comments, noting that 90 per cent of the NEET population do not have a degree.

“It's clear that universities are part of the solution, and we can do more to support young people. In this context the prime minister’s focus on criticising degrees is short-sighted, misinformed and a dangerous simplification.”

The report adds that the post-16 skills and education system is “highly fragmented, complex and confusing”.

“It contains very different accountability and policy regimes which cover schools, further and higher education, adult learning and work-based training, including apprenticeships,” it says. 

“Funding varies considerably across these different areas and there is little coordination between providers or coherence in the system overall.”

Last year, the government published its post-16 education and skills White Paper, which aimed to develop a more coherent system.

The report noted that the “winds of change are now blowing in favour of vocational education” as the “primacy of higher education is under challenge”. 

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden welcomed the report and said the government was “already taking action” to tackle youth unemployment, including through a new Youth Jobs Grant, more apprenticeships and subsidised employment.

“But we know there is more to do. I will work across government and with employers, charities and young people to drive real change, so more young people are earning or learning, not left behind.”

Milburn is expected to publish his final recommendations later this year.

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com