Tories pledge 100,000 new apprenticeships with major crackdown on Mickey Mouse degrees
Rishi Sunak has blasted 'rip off' university degrees that are leaving young people worse off.
Rishi Sunak has announced plans to fund an extra 100,000 high-skilled apprenticeships every year under the next government, by taking an axe to Mickey Mouse university degrees.
In their latest bold policy offering, the Conservatives have set out plans to spend £889 million on the boost for young people’s skills and put an end to rip-off degrees.
A Conservative Government would save £910 million of taxpayers' cash by scrapping university courses that leave graduates no better off and with no chance of paying back their student loans.
The worst-performing university courses will be assessed on Government data including drop-out rates, job progression and future earnings potential.
Today Rishi Sunak has blasted university courses that are “ripping young people off”.
He says: “Improving education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet for boosting life chances”.
“So, it’s not fair that some university courses are ripping young people off.”
“Thanks to our plan, apprenticeships are much higher quality than they were under Labour. And now we will create 100,000 more, by putting an end to rip-off degrees and offering our young people the employment opportunities and financial security they need to thrive.”
Conservative Governments since 2010 have delivered a whopping 5.8 million apprenticeships, often touted as a key achievement of their time in power.
Reforms now also mean that young people can get to 70% of occupations via an apprenticeship.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, who started her career with an apprenticeship at a car factory, said: “There are no limits to where an apprenticeship can take you. Mine took me from a car factory in Kirkby to the Cabinet”.
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“When Labour were in power they pushed an arbitrary target to get half of young people to university, creating a boom in low quality degrees - leaving far too many students saddled with debt and little else.
“The choice is clear. Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour party who have contempt for apprenticeships, or Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives who have a clear plan to give young people the best start to their careers.”
The Tories will change the law so that the poorest performing university courses can be closed, and grant new powers to the university regulator - the Office for Students - to close courses that are underperforming.
While the Conservatives decline to provide an indicative list of low-quality university courses that could be for the chop, official Graduate data from the Government does reveal average graduate salaries.
According to the data, the five university degree course with the lowest average graduate earnings after five years are:
- Swansea University, Combined and general studies: £9,100
- University of Brighton, performing arts: £15,900
- University of Hull, journalism and communications: £16,100
- University of The Highlands and Islands, Creative arts and design: £16,200
- University of The Highlands and Islands, Sociology, social policy and anthropology: £16,400
