Rishi Sunak vows to shut down ‘Mickey Mouse’ university courses and create new apprenticeships
THE Tories will shut down “Mickey Mouse” university courses and create 100,000 apprenticeships a year instead, the PM has vowed.
Rishi Sunak will give regulators powers to close soft-touch degrees with high drop-out rates that fail to land graduates with a well-paid job.
He reckons rip-off courses saddle students with debt while being a total waste of money for taxpayers.
The cash saved will be poured into creating 100,000 apprenticeships a year by 2029/30.
Unveiling his latest election pledge, Mr Sunak said: “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.
READ MORE ON THE ELECTION
“Thanks to our plan, apprenticeships are much higher quality than they were under Labour.
“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.”
Last year, the Government introduced rules to allow the Office for Students to limit people accepted on to poor-performing courses.
But the Tory election manifesto plan gives the OfS powers to shut down university courses entirely.
They estimate the crackdown will see one in eight students changing what they study.
Ending the degrees will save an estimated £910million by 2029/30.
It will cost £885million to expand apprenticeships.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan — the first former apprentice to become a Cabinet minister — said the policy was a game-changer.
Watch our daily politics show
Watch The Sun's new DAILY Never Mind the Ballots Election Countdown show on our brand new YouTube channel here.
Every weekday Sun Political Editor Harry Cole brings you the latest news and analysis from the election campaign trail.
She said: “There are no limits to where an apprenticeship can take you. Mine took me from a car factory in Kirkby to the Cabinet.
“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.”
The Tories said £1 of every £4 borrowed by students is never repaid, meaning hard-pressed taxpayers foot the bill for rip-off degrees.
Bold action needed
AS Conservatives we believe education is the ladder of opportunity.
Nowhere is this truer for apprenticeships and it should be true for university.
Today, one in three graduates end up in jobs that don’t need a degree.
Our clear plan to boost apprenticeships by 100,000 will change that.
Apprentices often end up earning more after graduating than the university-educated.
I applaud the bold action that will help secure 100,000 new apprenticeships and help the next generation climb the ladder of opportunity.
- By Rob Haflon, Former Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education