Skills minister, Anne Milton, said top-performing youngsters must avoid going to university to simply tick a box
The brightest straight A* pupils should throw off their intellectual snobbery and consider shunning Oxbridge for an apprenticeship, the skills minister has said.
Anne Milton said top-performing youngsters must avoid going to university simply to tick a box because it does not necessarily give you skills or a guaranteed job.
She urged them to apply for one of the Government’s new degree apprenticeships which were launched two years ago and are designed for the country’s most able pupils.
Entry is extremely competitive, with applicants needing a string of A grades in many cases, but those accepted are paid a salary, graduate with a degree and have no student debt.
Mrs Milton revealed even the most elite private schools now see these schemes as a viable alternative to Oxford and Cambridge – a trend which was confirmed yesterday by the sector’s leaders.
She told the Daily Mail: ‘Intellectual snobbery should not get in the way. You might feel that you’ve ticked a box with your child going off to university, but if they haven’t got a job at the end of it they’re going to be back home in three years time.
‘If you want to advise your child well, tell them about the other opportunities that are out there rather than going blindly towards the light at the end of the tunnel which has previously been UCAS (the university application system).’
Mrs Milton revealed even the most elite private schools now see these schemes as a viable alternative to Oxford and Cambridge (pictured)
Mrs Milton, who was a nurse for 25 years, said that while university might be right for some students who have a particular passion for a subject, others are more career-focused and simply want to get stuck in. She added that someone with a string of A* grades should ‘definitely not’ feel under pressure to go to university if they would prefer to go straight into industry. ‘To that person, I say go and be an engineer,’ she said.
‘For the bright students who are really up there, go and do an engineering degree apprenticeship because it is one of the most highly-paid jobs.’
Degree apprenticeship roles currently available include aerospace engineer, chartered legal executive, chartered surveyor, civil engineer, licensed conveyancer, nuclear scientist, manufacturing engineer and product designer.
Mrs Milton said she recently gave a talk to children at a top fee-paying school where the head mistress had urged her to ‘try to persuade the children that there is something more to life than just Oxford, Cambridge or Warwick’. Pictured: Oxford Univeristy
They typically involve working full-time at a top firm on real projects for several years while also receiving free teaching – with a degree awarded at the end and often a guaranteed job with that company.
Speaking ahead of National Apprenticeship Week, Mrs Milton said skills as well as knowledge are needed to compete around the world. ‘University gives you knowledge, it doesn’t necessarily give you skills,’ she said.
Mrs Milton said she recently gave a talk to children at a top fee-paying school where the head mistress had urged her to ‘try to persuade the children that there is something more to life than just Oxford, Cambridge or Warwick’. Yesterday Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, which represents most independent schools, confirmed private heads were ‘slowly coming round’ to degree apprenticeships.
He said: ‘It would be a mistake for schools and parents to be snobbish about this. Because what matters at the end of the whole process is that their child ends up with a really good job in a firm they are happy with.’
Mrs Milton was keen to point out there are apprenticeship opportunities for everyone – including those who don’t enjoy school and want to leave at 16