The Value of a Degree - What do Gen Z expect from their University

This thought piece from Professor Joy Carter, CBE, DL, Vice-Chancellor at University of Winchester forms a helpful baseline of the values and responses that run deep in Gen Z and therefore brings great value in understanding – and therefore helping to shape – young people’s opinions. 

Some of the key report findings found that:

• A generation of young people are desperately concerned about the future of the planet, and about the health service and young people are worried that the government, and others including universities, were not doing enough about it. 
• While students are still choosing to go to university for relatively traditional reasons, the values of an institution were a significant driver in student choice between universities. 
• As leaders in education and research, universities are in a unique position to be catalysts for real and lasting change.

It's being reinforced that to uncover and address the challenges of the future  the scale of the issues must be recognised:

• Find the time – and the attention of senior teams – to think more purposefully about what the role of universities is in responding to Gen Z. 
• Think much more outwardly
• Embrace transdisciplinary work much more fully
• Modernise performance metrics
• Improve community engagement.