Is a university education still worth the investment of rising tuition fees and time spent studying towards a degree rather than gaining valuable work experience?

Higher education around the world is undergoing a series of rapid transformations. The effects of AI and emerging technologies, the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on today’s job market, the complex global challenges requiring interdisciplinary attention, and the rise of campuses as the site of contestation around free speech have all led to many questioning both the form and function of contemporary universities. 

Who should go to university, and why? What structures and environments will best equip tomorrow’s students for the job markets of the future? How does the future university align with goals for broadening access and participation from underrepresented parts of society? Drawing on a range of expertise from across HE, government and the private sector, the panellists will reflect on the most urgent issues facing the relevance of universities and put forward new ideas about how best to envision a future for HE which benefits not just its students and staff, but society at large.

Meet our speakers and chair

Aaron Reeves is Professor of Sociology at LSE. His work studies the causes and consequences of social inequality, with a focus on the political economy of health, welfare reform, and processes of elite formation. He is the co-editor of the British Journal of Sociology. He has recently co-authored Born to Rule with Professor Sam Friedman which analyses the British elite and includes an investigation of elites’ access to higher education.

Boris Walbaum is the Founder and President of Forward College, a pan-European university launched in 2021 designed to develop all forms of human intelligences and skills. The university has a vision to redefine higher education, realigning learning with the requirements of tomorrow’s top jobs. Dr Walbaum previously worked for the French government and in consulting at McKinsey, and has been involved in various international organisations including the United Nations, the Aspen Institute, the Atlantik Brüche, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

David Willetts is the President of the Resolution Foundation. He served as the Member of Parliament for Havant (1992-2015), as Minister for Universities and Science (2010-2014) and previously worked at HM Treasury and the No. 10 Policy Unit. He is also Chair of the UK Space Agency and of the Foundation for Science and Technology. Lord Willetts has written widely on economic and social policy. His book A University Education was published by Oxford University Press. A second edition of his book The Pinch on fairness between the generations was published in 2019.

Emma McCoy is Vice President and Pro-Vice Chancellor, Education at LSE.

More about this event

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Visions for the Future running from Monday 16 to Saturday 21 June 2025, with a series of events exploring the threats and opportunities of the near and distant future, and what a better world could look like. Booking for all Festival events will open on Monday 19 May.  

LSE 100 is LSE's flagship interdisciplinary course for all undergraduate students, designed to bring you into the heart of the LSE tradition of engaging with big questions.

The Department of Sociology provides outstanding education in the changing social world, and state-of-the-art, public-facing research on social issues.

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