Introduction

We have suggested that there has been a generational shift in the experience of Higher Education, as ‘going to University’ has become framed as something that 50 per cent of school leavers are expected to do. Yet it is also presented as an individual choice, to be taken and paid for by individual consumers. The previous chapter noted that the resulting tension between compulsion and choice has resulted in a number of contradictory rationales for the purpose of Higher Education, as articulated by official documents. In this chapter, we discuss how this tension between compulsion and choice is experienced and articulated by members of the public.

We draw on written responses to the two Mass Observation Directives of 2004 (MO2004) and 2016 (MO2016) to understand how ideas about the University have changed since the late 20th century, and how individuals work through this experience with regard to their own Higher Education, and that of their children and grandchildren. We note that many of the Mass Observation Project's Observers expressed an optimistic and generous appreciation of the promise of Higher Education, viewing it as an opportunity for young adults to gain a deeper understanding of their chosen academic discipline and/ or develop vocational skills, as well as to experience independence, widen their social circle, and gain higher qualifications. Expansion was generally welcomed, for providing an opportunity to go to University that previous generations (or their own generation) had lacked. In particular, the reduction of barriers to Higher Education caused by gender or social class was regarded, implicitly or explicitly, as progressive.

Yet alongside this narrative, the positioning of Higher Education as the next stage of the journey towards work and adulthood was discussed as a somewhat troubling phenomenon. Although respondents were positive about young people having the opportunity of a University education and experience, they expressed reservations about the parameters of this opportunity, worrying that it was positioned at the expense of other options, such as work or vocational training; that it required great personal, financial cost, in the form of student debt; and that the drive to bring high numbers into Higher Education was adversely affecting the quality of education received and the status accorded to a degree.