UK bets on East London hub to anchor next phase of innovation Tech The UK’s push to build a more joined-up innovation economy is increasingly being anchored in east London, where Here East has turned into one of the country’s largest multi-sector tech campuses. Set within the former Olympic press and broadcast centre in Stratford, the 1.2m sq ft site aims to bring various universities, startups, corporates and [...]
A generation risks being put off university just when we need graduates most Opinion Current public debate, with headlines about student debt, graduate underemployment and a supposedly collapsing graduate jobs market risk the impression that university is no longer a worthwhile investment When Daniela Amodei, co-founder of world-leading AI firm Anthropic, was asked recently whether she regretted her English literature degree, her answer was unequivocal: no. In fact, she [...]
Interest rate on student loans to be capped Education Interest on student loans will be capped, in an attempt from the government to draw a line under a political row which has engulfed Westminster. Labour has announced that maximum interest rates on Plan 2 and Plan 3 student loans will not rise beyond six per cent from the next academic year starting in September. [...]
Graduates are the canary in the coalmine for a failing welfare system April 7, 2026 The welfare state is a Ponzi scheme that’s dependent on an ever shrinking cohort of taxpayers, says Anne Strickland Discussion about student loan unfairness has dominated the headlines over the last month, after a freeze in the repayment thresholds led to a backlash about the student loan system in general. With fiscal drag pulling more [...]
Will this year’s university cohort be able to get a job? April 6, 2026 At a time when many university students are revising for their final exams, data from the Office for National Statistics highlights a sharp slowdown in entry-level hiring, leaving this year’s cohort facing growing uncertainty about what awaits them after graduation, says Rod Flavell With just three months to go before exams and the transition into [...]
The student loan book is disguising the real size of the national debt April 1, 2026 The market value of the student loan book is approximately £33bn lower than official government accounts suggest. As a result, our national debt is higher than we’re being told – disguised by billions in loans that are much less valuable than they appear, says Sebastian Charleton Britain’s young are the most educated generation in our [...]
Tories pledge to cut ‘eyewatering’ interest on some student loans February 22, 2026 The Conservative party has pledged to slash some of the interest paid on student loans issued up until 2023 amid growing opposition around the crippling amount of student debt. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the Plan 2 loans system – which around 5.8 million took out loans under between 2012 and 2023 – “increasingly feels [...]
The many ways the system is failing graduates like me February 19, 2026 Graduates are facing a two-pronged attack from a shrinking jobs market and an expanding welfare state that actively incentivises us to live off benefits, says Oliver Dean In recent weeks, the graduate crisis has garnered significant attention. As someone set to graduate this summer, I am in the same boat as hundreds of thousands of [...]
A university education is no longer good value for money February 18, 2026 Students have been turned into customers but the product they’re buying is worthless and it’s underwritten by the taxpayer, says Paul Ormerod The plight of graduates burdened with debt has been a prominent feature in the media over the past week or so. Hundreds of thousands will never earn enough to repay their student borrowings, [...]
The Debate: Should student loan debt be forgiven? February 4, 2026 Student loans are under the spotlight, with those who took out plans between 2012 and 2023 feeling the bite. Should student debt (or some of it) be forgiven?