Project Overview

What do applicants to universities and colleges in the UK in 2007 think about the future?

Where do they expect their happiness to come from?

What do they think the world will be like when they are mid-career?

What are the big challenges facing humanity, and who do they expect action from?

When Forum for the Future and UCAS embarked on the second Future Leaders Survey, it was with a mixture of hope and trepidation. Today’s university entrants truly have the hand of history on their shoulders: the first generation to face seemingly intractable global environmental problems right at the beginning of their careers, and the last with a chance to solve them.

As the results of this year’s survey show, they feel this burden, and struggle to feel optimistic about the future – whether in saving the rainforests, achieving peace or ending famine.

But they haven’t given up, and their expectations are very high. As future leaders they know we need action from leaders of today, in business, government, the media and beyond. They also see a much greater role for coercion – for example banning 4x4s in city centres and taxing aviation – than our current culture of voluntarism would suggest.

As you’d expect, fun is still pretty high on their agenda, and like students of any generation they want to see the world, socialise with their friends, and benefit from some of the good things in life. For the world’s billion teenagers, reconciling this lifestyle with the reality of environmental limits is what sustainable development is all about, and is now the defining challenge for leadership both present and future.

The Future Leaders Survey 2007/08 was made possible by sponsorship from Friends Provident.

Read Jonathon Porritt's blog entry

You can also download the report and supporting information by browsing the links in the menu on the left-hand side.