A University Education is still free (plus grants) in EU - How can we fix it in UK?

Dunroamin

Voyager2002 wrote: »

I'm in my fifties so not sure if I'm a boomer yet, but I'm all for far higher taxation.

I do believe in a free university education for all those for whom it is appropriate. The tragedy is that we lack a system of apprenticeships and proper vocational training, and it is absurd that people whose first choice would be to train for a skilled trade are instead given the choice between an academic course of higher education or the dole.

In some ways it doesn't really matter if the training that in the past was provided as an apprenticeship is now re-branded as a degree in "Hairdressing Studies" or such-like nonsense: students know what they are doing and emerge able to earn a living. It does matter when someone whose aptitude is practical rather than academic struggle and is miserable for three years, emerging with a third class degree in Physics or another traditional subject. Future employment prospects are very grim.

I agree with you except for the "Hairdressing Studies" degree bit. Labelling all courses as degrees devalues the word and means that students emerge with thousands of unneccessary debt to achieve an academic level that is hardly beyond that which used to be achieved at A level.