There is a tendency among commentators right now to describe the currently graduating class of students as “unlucky”.
You can see why – but it’s a dangerous framing. We might well regard a period containing the aftermath of Brexit, the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, industrial action and the onset of generative AI as unusual – but the way in which decision makers have responded to them have been choices.
More often than not, those choices have been about deprioritising, defunding or demonising students, where keeping the financialised higher education show on the road has taken precedence over protecting or securing their interests.
I don’t think it’s unfair, for example, to suggest that students – whether they pay fees or not – have the right to the teaching and services promised, to have their work assessed fairly and robustly, and to graduate on time.
