Nissan is harder to get into than Oxford University
FIERCE competition means it is easier for a young person to win a place at Oxford University than to become an apprentice at the Nissan car plant in Sunderland, a former Cabinet minister has said.
Research conducted by Lord Adonis, a former Labour transport secretary and schools minister, revealed that 1,000 applicants applied for 20 apprentice posts at the plant last year.
He said: “The competition for places is unbelievably fierce, more even than for Oxford University.
“Nissan’s apprenticeship programme is regarded as one of the best in the country so you would expect to see it oversubscribed, but it is scandalous that so few apprenticeship places are available at companies across this region.
“We want to get young people on the road to a job, not the road to the dole.”
Lord Adonis’s report, More and Better Jobs: North-East International, called for a new agency to be established in the north-east to manage training in a bid to create 13,000 extra apprenticeships every year.
He also wants to see an increase in the proportion of the region’s young people going on to higher education.