Leading article: Degrees of value

Should universities offer undergraduates a broader and more structured curriculum on the American model instead of leaving them to sink or swim with a specialist degree and little support? This question will be asked increasingly as students pay ever larger amounts in fees and wonder whether they are getting value for their outlay. The medieval view of higher education as a community of scholars still persists in some older institutions. That philosophy worked - just about - when classes were small. But now that lectures are so big and students reduced to a number, there are very real concerns about whether humanities degrees are giving young people a useful and rewarding education.