Are skills gaps and student scepticism two sides of the same problem?

Welcome! I write this having just gotten back from Hong Kong where I spent the last week covering the 2026 APAIE conference. Thank you to everyone who subscribed to this newsletter from that event.

While it was great being back after an extended period, it was striking to see how APAIE has changed, particularly from an attendee make up perspective. There were far more Europeans and North Americans than I’d seen before, and their interest in the region speaks to the importance the world is placing on Asia. The region seems to be taken more seriously than ever before, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for our full coverage.

Throughout the conference, I also had a number of conversations about skills, and this week, we carry two pieces focussed on that subject; one with a solution, and one with a warning. Universities need to act now to meet skills demands, because students are starting to seek out alternative options.

Stay insightful,
Anton John Crace
Editor in Chief, QS Insights Magazine
QS Quacquarelli Symonds

The skills universities need to build in their graduates now

By Alex Best

Across thousands of employers surveyed globally, the same gaps come up again and again:

• Graduates struggle most with critical thinking and judgement, not subject knowledge.
• Problem-solving and communication are among the widest gaps across industries.
• Employers increasingly value adaptability and interpersonal skills as AI reshapes work.

The skills employers describe as missing are rarely technical or sector-specific. They’re the transferrable capabilities that determine whether graduates can use what they’ve learned in real workplaces - especially when problems are ambiguous, time-pressured, and increasingly shaped by AI.

The five skills universities need to build now

When employer-reported skills gaps are compared across industries, a clear pattern emerges. The same capabilities consistently rise to the top. Far from being industry-specific, these are fundamental skills that determine how effectively graduates apply their learning.

• Critical thinking and judgement
• Problem solving
• Communication
• Resilience, flexibility and adaptability
• Emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills

Critical thinking and judgement sit at the centre of what employers say is missing. Across sectors including consulting, education, and healthcare, employers report that many graduates struggle to challenge assumptions, evaluate evidence, and make sound decisions in complex situations. As AI makes it easier to generate plausible – but perhaps incorrect or vague - answers instantly, this gap becomes more consequential.

Closely linked is problem-solving, one of the most consistently reported skills gaps in the QS data. Employers are not saying graduates lack theoretical understanding; they are saying graduates struggle to apply that knowledge to messy, time-pressured problems with competing constraints. This gap appears across almost every industry, and in some - such as finance - problem-solving ranks among both the most important skills and the widest gaps.

Communication is another recurring concern. In the technology sector - one of the fastest-growing areas of the job market, with the Future of Jobs Report 2025 identifying roles such as AI specialists, big data professionals, and software developers among the world’s fastest-growing jobs - employers still report communication as one of the widest skills gaps in the QS data. Many graduates can communicate academically but struggle to write and speak with workplace clarity: concise, persuasive, and tailored to different audiences.

Employers also highlight gaps in resilience, flexibility, and adaptability, particularly in fast-moving sectors such as consulting, finance, government, education, manufacturing, and media. Modern work is defined by change, ambiguity, and continuous feedback, yet many employers feel graduates are underprepared for these conditions. In the education sector itself, resilience and flexibility appear among the widest reported gaps.

Finally, the data points to shortfalls in emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, especially in people-facing sectors such as HR, hospitality, healthcare, and the non-profit sector. But these emotional intelligence and interpersonal gaps aren’t confined to people-facing roles: they also appear across finance, government, defence, and energy. Employers report weaknesses in collaboration, empathy, conflict management, and relationship-building. As work becomes more team-based and AI takes on more transactional tasks, the human side of work has not diminished, but has become the differentiator.

 Alex works with Content to deliver high-quality B2B website and social media content for QS. She writes and optimises on-site copy, analyses page performance to drive engagement, publishes content on QS.com and socials, and supports a range of website projects in close collaboration with colleagues across the business.

Are UK teens ditching the uni dream?

By Nick Harland

In brief

• Rising costs and stagnant job prospects are driving the first decline in UK university application rates, challenging the long-held "default" path of higher education.
• Ballooning tuition fees and 6% interest rates create significant debt, while 700,000 graduates remain unemployed, leading many to seek "barrier-breaking" routes through vocational skills instead.
• Universities must adapt as Gen Z embraces apprenticeships and side hustles, valuing on-demand, practical learning and "real-life skills" over the eroding traditional campus lifestyle.

 When Michael Olatokun decided to study computer science at university, he was doing so because he saw it as a ‘sure bet.’ This was in 2011, and the tech sector - as well as the UK higher education sector - was on an upward curve. The proportion of 18-year-olds applying for university had just hit a record 32 percent and Olatokun’s degree eventually led him to a secure, well-paid career; one that put him in a position to pay off his student loan.

Now, however, things have changed.

Since Olatokun started his degree, tuition fees for domestic students in the UK have ballooned from £3,225 to £9,535. For those who started university between 2012 and 2023, they could be repaying their student loan with an interest rate of over six percent, making it almost impossible for many to even make a dent in their student debt.

Many would argue that as long as you also get a secure, well-paying job then that’s not necessarily a problem. Student loan repayments only kick in after a certain salary threshold (£29,385 for the 2012-2023 generation) and are written off 30 years after you first hit that threshold. It’s more of a tax than a traditional loan.

The problem is that for many young people, a degree no longer guarantees a secure, well-paying job. In fact, it no longer even guarantees a job. Recent reports suggest that 700,000 UK graduates are currently out of work and claiming benefits, with their job application success rate said to be the lowest in 30 years.

"University is a tough sell right now,” says Olatokun.

“In terms of fees and value, there's nothing to incentivise young people. Even the university lifestyle is slowly eroding away,” he adds, referencing the rise in the number of UK students who commute to university rather than living in on-campus accommodation (31 percent now compared to 22 percent a decade ago), an increase that’s largely down to financial concerns.

The commuting gap is even greater among disadvantaged students, who may well be reconsidering the guarantees that a degree can give them. Part of the reason why Olatokun picked a sure bet for his degree was because of his working class background. "[Growing up in] a Nigerian household, parents will typically tell you to do engineering, become a lawyer, become a doctor... go down these barrier-breaking routes from a class point of view." Now, many working class students are likely to double down on ‘safe’ degrees - or ditch the uni dream altogether.

Now, there are signs that more and more young Brits are reconsidering their plans to go to university. Application rates among 18-year-olds had been steadily rising ever since the then Labour government set a target of 50 percent of young people attending university in 1999. It meant that over the course of the next two decades, going to university almost became the default path for young people in Britain.

Application rates peaked at 42.8 percent in 2022, but the following year saw the first decline since records began. They now sit at just over 40 percent, but with all of the negative headlines surrounding student debt and job prospects, it may be that teenagers will start considering alternative routes.

Olatokun certainly thinks they will. It’s part of the reason why he founded SkillStruct, a firm that provides training opportunities in tech to young people from underrepresented backgrounds. They run workshops, offer online courses and provide recruitment support for employers.

According to Olatokun, SkillStruct is offering what more and more young people in the UK are looking for: skills-based learning, practical experience and quick access to the job market. He says he is ‘definitely hearing more stories’ about young people turning away from higher education in favour of apprenticeships, entrepreneurial ventures and side hustles.

SkillStruct is focused on the tech sector, but other industries are starting to appeal to young people too. For example, as more young people went to university, careers in trades became less popular. Consequently, the UK is now facing a trades shortage that has seen the numbers of builders, welders and plumbers plummet in recent years.

More recently, however, it seems young people are once again starting to consider this career path. A recent survey from MyBuilder.com found that 21 percent of respondents were considering retraining as a tradesperson. Of the people surveyed, 25 percent had a degree and 18 percent regretted going to university.

Though serious alternatives to university are starting to crop up, not everyone agrees that we’re seeing the start of a decline in UK higher education. Nick Hillman is the Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), and believes the value of a degree remains high despite the current uncertainty surrounding it.

“While it is true that the graduate labour market is in a dicey position, you are still much better off with a degree than without one - both in terms of earnings and the likelihood of being in work as well as non-financial benefits,” he says. The average salary of UK graduates is £42,000, compared to £30,500 for non-graduates.

“Entering higher education remains a pretty safe bet for most people who can find a place, though I would always urge people to do their homework first to ensure they know as much as possible about the courses they are interested in.”

According to UCAS, the organisation which manages undergraduate admissions in the UK, the levelling off of application rates among young people doesn’t yet point to a long-term decline.

“UCAS data shows an increase in the number of UK 18‑year‑olds applying to university or college by the January Equal Consideration Date,” says Dave Penney, the firm’s Chief Communications and Marketing Officer.

“This reflects continued growth in the UK 18‑year‑old population, which is expected to continue throughout this decade. When viewed as a proportion of the population, application behaviour appears to be settling into a more consistent, pre‑pandemic pattern. This suggests that, despite cost‑of‑living challenges, appetite for higher education among school leavers remains undiminished.”

Hillman adds that alternatives to traditional higher education, such as apprenticeships, also remain difficult to access. Just over 350,000 people started an apprenticeship in 2024; a figure considerably down on 2012’s high-water mark of 521,000. Degree apprenticeships have grown in popularity over the past decade, but still represent just 5 percent of all bachelor’s-level qualifications awarded in the UK.

But rather than following these structured paths, Olatokun believes that young people may increasingly consider alternative educational and career paths. Online courses are easier to access than ever before, you can learn the basics of plenty of subjects in a YouTube tutorial, and learning is expected to be on-demand rather than semester-based. “The barriers are down,” he says. "And a lot of young people are valuing real-life skills and purpose."

He also notes the booming side hustle culture among Gen Z. “The trend in Gen Z and self-employment is fascinating to me,” he says. “I’m seeing entrepreneurs doing brilliant things from such a young age.”

It’s a feeling that’s supported by the numbers: a recent Axios survey discovered that 57 percent of Gen Z has some form of side hustle. With the old guarantees of a solid, well-paying career disappearing in front of their eyes, it makes sense that young people may want to take the initiative in their career and put themselves in control.

Whether these alternative routes ever push aside the uni dream remains to be seen. But it does feel increasingly as though university, for the first time in a long time, isn’t the default path for young people in the UK anymore.

Nick is a freelance copywriter, writer and founder of Big Bang Copy. As a freelancer, he has written content for Specsavers, Numan, Ricoh, Hearst and many more. He specialises in education, healthcare and music, but has written about everything from financial services to luxury travel. In 2021, he founded the copywriting agency Big Bang Copy. He works with a small network of freelancers on bigger copywriting projects such as website rewrites or marketing campaigns.