The Vice-Chancellor of Staffordshire University has heavily criticised Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying his pre-election “attack” on university education has left him “incensed”.
Professor Martin Jones described the Government’s pledge to get rid of “rip-off” degrees to fund 100,000 apprenticeships as “unhelpful and divisive”.
It comes in the wake of both Staffordshire and Keele University looking at potential cost-cutting measures to ease their financial burdens and a call on the next government for a priority review into higher education funding.
Martin said: “Less than a week after setting the date of the General Election, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has taken a swipe at the value of university degrees in his election pledge about helping to fund 100,000 apprenticeships by scrapping poor quality degree courses.
“His statement is both incredibly unhelpful and divisive and does not make it at all clear how hard universities like Staffordshire are working with employers and FE partners to grow degree apprenticeships alongside its traditional degree courses.
“We fully support the expansion of apprenticeships. A national study funded by the Quality Assurance Agency and led by our Pro Vice-Chancellor, Professor Raheel Nawaz has confirmed that most employers believe degree apprenticeships are key to attracting talent and growing their business.
“That said, I am incensed by this latest attack on university education and relieved to see the sector’s response to the Conservative Party’s announcement.”
He added: “Please don’t get me wrong. I agree that the value of higher education should be measured by the opportunities it creates for students.
“But it is crucial that any measures to restrict student numbers on certain courses are implemented with a keen awareness of the diverse needs of our student population and do not discourage those students from poorer areas who already face significant barriers.”
In last week’s announcement Rishi Sunak promised to create 100,000 high-skilled apprenticeships a year by scrapping “rip-off degrees” if he wins the general election.
Creating this number of high-skilled apprenticeships would cost £885 million, the Conservatives have said. This would be paid for by shutting down the worst-performing university degrees, which, the party says, would save an estimated £910 million.
Labour has said its plan is to replace the apprenticeship levy with a growth and skills levy to fund other types of training. This would allow businesses to use 50 per cent of the funds they receive to pay for non-apprenticeship training.
Meanwhile, Universities UK has shared new analysis which shows that graduates in England typically earn more in their lifetime compared to those who could have continued in education but chose employment instead.
And current government measures for assessing course success only track students up to 15 months after graduation – therefore not taking into account future progression.
Universities UK Chief Executive Vivienne Stern MBE said: “Earnings are not the only measure of a valuable degree –lots of people choose careers because they care about them, not just for the money. However, this new analysis conclusively shows that it is overwhelmingly worth getting a degree.
“Degree apprenticeships are not an alternative to higher education. Instead, degree apprenticeships are a form of higher education delivered as a partnership between employers and universities.”
This latest sharp focus on higher education comes just a month after Daily Focus reported that Keele University was in talks with its 2,300 strong workforce regarding voluntary redundancies. Late last year, Staffordshire University announced it was shedding around 100 jobs to combat rising costs.
