Great effort goes to attract the best school-leavers. If only the same energy went into ensuring that their graduate alumni are actually prepared for the world of work.
During this Budget run-up, many of those I met raised business rates as a killer, plus council tax, the apprenticeship levy, parking charges and corporation tax, too.
Levels of trust between Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street may be low, but the latter holds the key to helping create an economy and society that works for everyone.
Plus: The train of communism stalls but the train of conservatism stutters. And: Tackling Burning Injustices does not mean taxing milkshakes.
The old, with their savings, could help the young. The economically active young could help the old, by giving them an income.
The Government must act now, or risk a generation of school leavers missing out on the opportunity to acquire technical skills.
We must change our organisation, making it more democratic, accessible for the lower paid and a place in which the most disadvantaged can feel at home.
They need time and resources spent on preparing them for employment and for life – and for their Government to adapt as quickly as they are doing.
The new Office for Students must lead in this. There must be sanctions from the new regulator for those universities who are failing in this regard.
What is the objective of higher education if it does not play a major role in addressing our country’s skills deficit?
We must rebalance Further and Higher Education, and ensure that those with most to gain from up-skilling actually get the opportunity to do so.
Of course, mistakes are made, and governments get things wrong – but there is also a duty to make sure that the good gets out into the public sphere too.
Our Party is bringing new rigour to Higher Education, but we have much more to do to win the support of young people on education policy.
That doesn’t just mean talking about it – it means putting it into practice both in Government and in how we run our own Party operations.
It continues to clear the deficit, prepare for Brexit, and back our businesses with the support they need to boost productivity.