Monday 21st July 2014 - Graduates as useful citizens

I have been working on graduation speeches in the last couple of days.  I try to vary them year by year, and also for each ceremony, although some elements that seem to work stay the same.

At a recent meeting in London I heard mention of work done by Birkbeck College and the Institute of Education in London detailing some of the ways in which graduates have different futures from non-graduates.  Some things are obvious, relating to employment prospects and other economic indices.  But other elements make very interesting reading.  The report provides evidence on the balance of benefit from graduation.  By that I mean the balance between private benefit (accruing only to the graduate) and public benefit (accruing to society more widely).  The funding of university education in the UK has shifted almost entirely to the student / graduate, and thus to a view that the only benefits of university study are for the graduate.  Were the public benefits to be quantified and highlighted then the argument would follow that the public purse should bear a significant proportion of the cost.

So what does the research show?

• Graduates are more tolerant of diversity, particularly ethnic diversity.
• Graduates are less likely to take up authoritarian views
• Graduates are more interested in politics and more likely to vote.
• Graduates are more likely to engage with civic life, for example through volunteering and charitable activities, or through joining clubs and societies 
• Graduates are less likely to be involved in crime
• Graduates are less likely to smoke, more likely to eat healthily and less likely to become obese
• As a result, graduates are likely to experience better health and to live longer
• They are more likely to take regular exercise
• They are also less likely to suffer depression

It's a pretty impressive list.  And if it were to be translated into a cost-benefit analysis it would show that - in health terms alone - graduates make less call on publicly-funded health services.  Less crime, and more civic and volunteering activities are also strong benefits to society as a whole.

So I've found a theme that I can make use of in at least one of this week's speeches.  Graduation is not just a good thing for the graduates: it's good for everyone.