Public money should be diverted from university courses that fail to lead to jobs and instead be given to colleges and apprenticeships, while universities that perform well on graduate outcomes should be better funded, according to the shadow education secretary.
Conservative MP Laura Trott has insisted that her party is not on an “anti-university crusade” but does want to shift “the focus away from funding university courses which are not benefiting young people”.
“I believe that universities are doing amazing work for young people; they are a huge export for us as a country, but they’re not all the same,” she said. “And us treating them like they are is actually devaluing some of the excellent work which is going on.”
Speaking at an event hosted by thinktank Policy Exchange on 23 June, the shadow minister said her party wants to stop funding courses “that are not delivering for young people” and instead focus on expanding apprenticeships “which are much more likely to lead to jobs” and deliver better “value for money for the taxpayer”.
Trott later said: “We want to use some of the money that we save from cutting back on university courses to put money into colleges.”
