An ¡°inherently rigid¡± UK higher education system needs to be made more flexible to allow students to change their minds about degree choices, according to the authors of a study that found more than half of UK graduates regretted their decisions.

Some 38 per cent of undergraduates said that on reflection they would have chosen a different course or university, while this number rose to 52 per cent of graduates polled, the by the University of Bristol in partnership with the Higher Education Policy Institute and Advance HE finds.

While undergraduates were most likely to have said they wished they had studied the same course at a different institution, more graduates said they wished that they had done a different course at the same institution.

The most common reason graduate respondents felt they had made the wrong decision was ¡°by far¡± that different choices would have given them more career options. Meanwhile, more undergraduates said ¡°I would have been happier or fitted in better¡± having made different choices.

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Graduates bluntly told the report¡¯s authors that ¡°my degree didn?t help me get a job¡± and that they felt the course they had picked had ¡°limited¡± where they could work. One added, ¡°I wasted a number of years of my life doing what I didn?t want¡±.

A majority of both the undergraduate and graduate respondents said that they would have wanted to transfer their studies if the option had been available, with many noting that they had been unaware that this was possible.

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The report therefore recommends universities make more information and guidance available to students about how to transfer between courses, and that admissions service Ucas should provide ¡°a greater and more visible central coordinating function¡± to support students who wish to switch to a different programme.

There is an ¡°inherent rigidity¡± in the UK system, the report says, which ¡°assumes that students make a single choice at the beginning of their studies and that they should stick with it throughout, reinforced by the potential financial consequences of transferring¡±.

¡°This rigidity does not reflect the way in which young people¡¯s views change and evolve, as the evidence in this research demonstrates, and suggests a lack of flexibility that does not fit with the contemporary pressures of a fast evolving and challenging job market that students face when they graduate,¡± it continues.

Just under half (49 per cent) of undergraduate and 30 per cent of graduate respondents said that transferring would not have been worth the effort and disruption, and many reported concerns about the additional cost of repeating a year.

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Nicola Dandridge, author of the report and professor of practice in higher education policy at the University of Bristol, said there was a role for the coming Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) ¨C now due to be implemented in 2027 ¨C to better facilitate transfers between universities.

¡°If after year one you thought you had made the wrong decision your studies would still have credit, then the LLE structure could enable you to stop, take time out and then pick up year two in another place, or study something else,¡± Dandridge said.

¡°It would formalise the accreditation of year one study and potentially enable you to take time out and then pick up again somewhere else.¡±

This could help alleviate students¡¯ fears about incurring greater tuition fee and maintenance loans, said Dandridge, the former chief executive officer of the Office for Students.

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Dandridge added that it was ¡°remarkable¡± that the majority of undergraduates overall (65 per cent) did not regret their decision, and only 2 per cent regretted going to university at all.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com