Mandelson plans to boost apprenticeships
30 Nov 2009
by: Hannah Cowley
Business secretary Lord Mandelson has announced plans to create 35,000 new apprenticeships for adults by cutting thousands of university and college courses.
Mandelson made a statement in the House of Lords in November saying poorly performing university and college courses and up to 30 education quangos will be stopped in order to pay for the new apprenticeships, which he hopes will improve adult education.
The plan is for a “traffic light” system that will monitor each university course and show the courses with the lowest employability levels. Everyone from the age of 19 will have an online personal skills account from next year. This will store qualifications already gained and any adult without GCSEs will receive £5,000 to spend on returning to education.
This is part of a government scheme to build on skills that are weak in Britain compared to other countries.
A bigger emphasis will be put on technical colleges for 14 – 19 year olds. Mandelson said: "There is a strong feeling that they [apprenticeships] were withering over the last 20 years, that government commitment was half-hearted and, almost, that apprenticeships were old-fashioned. Well they are not, they are back and being expanded.” This is a ten year plan for colleges and universities to focus more on practical courses, with a new target to get 75% of people aged 18 – 30 to go to university. This target was previously 50%.
Part of the government Skills for Growth strategy Mandelson focused on the importance of apprenticeships, saying: "We need engineers to lay the cables to expand access to high-speed internet, skilled people to build the electric vehicles of the future, and technicians to develop the medicines that will save lives.”
|