April 18, 2022
Tony Blair Reacts to UK's Productivity Crisis by Suggesting Increase of Young People in HE
T The UK is currently undergoing a productivity crisis which caught the attention of the former prime minister Tony Blair. In 1999 Blair set a target to have 50% of young adults go into higher education and higher diplomas “in the next century”.
In the present scenario, under the present government, this target seems like a challenge that's getting tougher to handle. Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, supported the former prime minister’s intervention by saying, “I think Tony Blair is correct on this. We’ve already hit his old 50% target and we should clearly now go further, given we remain behind other countries and employers are crying out for highly skilled people.”
…as we continue to mature as a knowledge economy, more jobs will be generated in sectors that disproportionately employ graduates…
The former prime minister's proposal states that the UK should aim to have a 60% increase in the number of young students going on to HE by 2030, and 70% by 2040. The target is set for the next two or three decades where focus will be given on skilled workforce that can support the higher education setting. People under the age of 30 are the target demographic who will be on their way to higher education, not just going to universities but also higher education provided by other educational institutions.
Jo Johnson, former higher education minister and brother of prime minister Boris Johnson, supported Blair's intervention by saying, “We still don’t have enough highly skilled individuals to fill many vacancies today.” He added, “As we continue to mature as a knowledge economy, more jobs will be generated in sectors that disproportionately employ graduates. High-innovation economies, like South Korea, Japan and Canada, understand this and have boosted higher education; participation rates in these countries are already between 60% and 70%. We cannot afford for policy to remain steeped solely in today’s challenges and our ambition should be to join them.”
The present government plans to create minimum entry requirements for university courses, and also to reintroduce student number controls in England.
“The Education Secretary has been clear about his vision for a high-quality skills system that meets the needs of employers and our economy, while ensuring we have high quality vocational and technical options that are just as prestigious and rewarding as academic routes," said the Department for Education spokesperson.
Posted in News and tagged News, UK, England, Higher Education
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