About the author
About Paul D. Sweeney
Paul D. Sweeney is an author and strategist with an unusually broad perspective on the university decision: as a student who made the wrong choice, as a parent who has been through the process twice, and as someone who understands the higher-education sector from the inside.
The wrong degree
At seventeen, Paul was steered towards an engineering degree that did not suit him. He left after the first year.
That experience is not included as a cautionary tale about failure. It is one of the reasons this book exists. Paul had followed a respectable route without properly examining whether it was the right one. The consequences were recoverable, but the decision could have been better.
His subsequent career took a decidedly indirect route: from an airline’s lost-luggage department to operational and general-management roles in aviation, followed by a start-up, consulting, strategic advisory work and senior leadership. He later completed an Executive MBA at London Business School.
Understanding universities from the inside
From 2020 to 2023, Paul served as Chief Strategy Officer at Unite Group PLC, the UK’s largest provider of purpose-built student accommodation (home to c. 70,000 students). He now advises several universities on strategy, giving him a detailed understanding of the pressures reshaping higher education: changing student expectations, financial constraints, technology, employability and the increasingly international market for talent.
He is also a parent who has helped two children navigate university choices. That experience reinforced how difficult it can be to distinguish the student’s decision from the hopes, fears and assumptions of the adults around them.
Why University, Maybe?
University, Maybe? is the book Paul wishes he had been given at seventeen—and the one he would have valued as a parent.
It is not an argument against university. Nor is it another guide to league tables, application forms or personal statements. It is a framework for deciding whether university is the right next step, what a student is buying if they go, and how to choose deliberately in a world being reshaped by artificial intelligence and economic uncertainty.
Paul is a Fellow of the RSA and the author of Magnetic Nonsense. He lives with his family in Richmond, southwest London, and is an enthusiastic sailor and sea kayaker.
Contact
For media, school and other enquiries, email Paul at paul.sweeney@20thinking.com or connect with him on LinkedIn.