Tony Blair report: HE expansion ‘props up’ UK economy

Nothing against HE and its huge value to individuals and society but this is such a blinkered view. HE is not for everyone and not for 70% of young people, at least in the way it is traditionally structured. There are issues with apprenticeships, as everyone knows, but the work/study combination is a very good one for many young people, particularly if they also don't end up with a pile of debt. Mr Scales was asked about apprenticeships on Radio 4 this morning, and either chose to avoid answering or he's not knowledgeable about them

I agree with the comments above. HE is not about skills for employment and so is not the place to expand. Universities are concerned with education and not training so the apprenticeship route seems a good way to include both in their appropriate contexts.

University degrees = the new A levels.

This needs to be part of a broader workforce strategy, something this government clearly lacks, but also a less blinkered view by academics on what constitutes Higher Education, Further Education and more. Does Higher Education need to mean University? My daughter got a first at Bristol but felt the course was poor, relatively undemanding and just 180 contact hours a YEAR (accepting that's not the sole Uni cost it's £50 per hour x 50 on her course, so in a group sense, a LOT, the point being our "name" Unis need competition). At what "stop-off points" can people decide to change career and agree new skills? In each individual case, what is the business case for skills improvement. Should education funding, mid-career, be a joint commitment from learner, employer, government? For the RELATIVELY unskilled jobs (caring needs good social skills which not all people have), why not let in migrants who want to work hard and don't mind basic work that Brits don't want. UK gov does have a skills strategy of sorts, but not a joined up education or workforce strategy, top-to-bottom - or does it?

Mr Scales is wrong to push for 70% of people to have undergraduate degrees or HE qualifications and he is wrong to conclude that this 70% would lead to higher GDP or Gross Value Added. It has not done so in the past and will not contribute much in the future. (In my opinion GDP and GVA are outdated, inappropriate and the wrong models to use when trying to improve productivity and identify wealth creation.) To create a better and more prosperous world and country, we must change our ideas about education and skills and be much clearer, as a society, about the type of world we want. The war in Ukraine, which will boost the production of weapons and ammunition and the building of more factories and housing, to replace what is being destroyed, will certainly boost some economies but the downside of death and destruction, is surely not what most of us want - no matter how many graduates it will need.