The Conservative Party has pledged to scrap underperforming university courses in England to fund 100,000 new apprenticeships annually if victorious in the July election. Courses considered as a “rip-off” due to high drop-out rates and poor job prospects would be replaced by the Tories. They detailed that those worst-performing courses would be identified by job progression, dropout rates, and future income potential.
While these plans have come under criticism from Labour, which pledged instead to “gear” apprenticeships towards young people; and the Liberal Democrats, which accused the government of treating apprenticeships like “second-class workers,” it is not the first time that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to “crack down on rip-off university courses.” The government previously declared its intent to cap student numbers on poor-performing courses that underperformed for students.
The Conservative party has estimated an eventual saving of £910m by 2030 by eliminating courses that teach 13% of the student population. The UK taxpayer “offsets” student loans in the event that graduates are not earning enough to pay them back. The logic behind this assumption is that by removing courses that lead to lower earnings, causing less unpaid debt.
These savings would reportedly enable the government to spend a sum of £885m to establish 100,000 additional apprenticeships per year by the conclusion of the next parliament. However, since there is no limit to the number of students universities in England can accept, universities could enrol students in other degree programmes if some were ended.
Rachel Hewitt, CEO of MillionPlus, the Association for Modern Universities, has stated that apprenticeships are an essential part of the skills landscape but do not have to be in opposition to higher education. Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, has deemed the announcement “laughable” since the Conservatives have “presided over a halving of apprenticeships.” Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have claimed that the Conservatives have “broken the apprenticeship system” and have called for urgent reform
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