Sunak: Labour HE target ‘one of great mistakes of last 30 years’

Rishi Sunak called Labour’s target to expand higher education “one of the great mistakes of the last 30 years”, leading to “thousands of young people being ripped off”, in a Conservative Party conference speech that suggested that criticism of universities might continue through the next general election campaign.

In a speech where the prime minister said he was rejecting what he described as 30 years of failed “consensus” in government, he also said his party was putting the emphasis on apprenticeships.

By contrast, Mr Sunak argued, “the Labour government pursued the false dream of 50 per cent of children going to university and abandoned apprenticeships. This assumption that the only route to success was the university route was one of the great mistakes of the last 30 years.

“It led to thousands of young people being ripped off by degrees that did nothing to increase their employability or earnings potential.

“So, we are stopping universities from enrolling students on courses that do nothing for their life chances. Under us, no more rip-off degrees.”

That was a reference to previously announced plans to restrict student numbers on courses in England that fall below Office for Students thresholds on continuation, completion and progression to professional or managerial jobs.

And it also referred to the Labour government target, set by Tony Blair when he was prime minister, for 50 per cent of young adults to gain a higher education qualification, an ambition that has been frequently invoked as a mistake by Tory ministers.

Mr Sunak did not mention the government’s “science superpower” goal for the UK, but he did use the “no more rip-off degrees” line twice.

Ahead of an election likely to be held next year, that might indicate that Mr Sunak sees the line, and playing off apprenticeships against higher education, as potentially popular with voters the Tories are targeting.

The prime minister also confirmed plans already trailed to bring together A levels with the government’s new T-level technical education qualifications, meaning potential big change in the qualification most commonly used in university admissions – if Mr Sunak gets the chance to enact his plan.

Mr Sunak said he wanted to “introduce the new rigorous, knowledge-rich Advanced British Standard, which will bring together A levels and T levels into a new single qualification for our school-leavers”.

This would “finally deliver on the promise of parity of esteem between academic and technical education”, ensuring that all school-leavers were “literate and numerate” because it would mean that “all students will study some form of maths and English to 18”, he said.

Responding to Mr Sunak’s speech, Vivienne Stern, the chief executive of Universities UK, said people who attended university are more than £100,000 better off over their lifetime than those who did not.

“The prime minister keeps talking down universities. He risks putting people off who would stand to benefit if they did go,” Ms Stern said.

“The biggest difference in the last 30 years has been the growth in the proportion of people from less privileged backgrounds who go to university.

“This political rhetoric is not in the interests of students, or the economic prospects of the country as a whole. We should be expanding opportunities and not talking down what is a national success story.”

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com