“But they might not be the mathematicians that Rishi Sunak is hoping for in the classroom”, suggests GB News’ Camilla Tominey.
These 18 year olds may not wish to do a full honours degree. But it should be far easier for them to be funded to get to level four or five – Higher National Certificates, Higher National Diplomas etc.
Paying back debt as soon as they begin to earn a graduate-level salary and suffering from excessive rents, is an unattractive combination. Why should these young people vote for us? Social engineering is not a Conservative principle, and it has blown up in our faces.
This leads us to the biggest danger of all – that the Conservative Party thinks it can fight a cultural war on the side of apprenticeships which are good against universities which are bad.
Apprenticeships have been an essential part of precision manufacturing for decades, but in much of our country it’s the degree scroll and the graduation ceremony that have become the hallmark of success.
We must not give up hope, but instead give hope to our people out there who need us to win despite everything that has happened.
Katharine Birbalsingh’s departure gives the Commission an opportunity to focus on families, employers and colleges too.
In a politics over-stocked with PPE graduates from Oxford, she has shown that a Liverpudlian who left school at 16 can triumph.
George Osborne managed to deliver employment and productivity even whilst cutting spending. The Chancellor can do the same.
The number of young people into higher education keeps on rising and has gone over 50 per cent. It is nothing to do with any target.
Apprenticeships aren’t always reaching the 16 to 18 year-olds who need them most
It’s one of the largest sources of clean energy used today and will continue to play a critical role in providing affordable electricity.
Gove is ready to localise as much either as he wants to or as his colleagues will let him, or both. I hope it’s work in progress.
Attempts to push people on to technical courses at local further education colleges, among other proposals, could backfire.
Today half of our country’s university grads are able only to tread water. The era of aspiration appears to be over, and the Prime Minister has a rapidly shrinking window to change that perception before the election.