It seems as though the government are intent on continuing their crusade against what they call ‘low value’ Higher Education, with the Prime Minister declaring at the Conservative Party conference in October that he would be “cracking down on rip-off degrees and boosting apprenticeships”. 

Fast forward a few weeks to the Kings Speech in November, and again, the government iterated its goal to “reduce the number of young people studying poor quality university degrees and increase the number undertaking high-quality apprenticeships”. 

All of which raises an obvious question: if the government succeeds in reducing the number of supposedly poor quality degrees, are there enough apprenticeships for students to choose instead? And even if there are enough apprenticeships, are they good quality apprenticeships? 

Our guests today are Alison Fuller, Professor of Vocational Education and Work at the UCL Institute of Education, and Olly Newton, executive director at the Edge Foundation, a charity that promotes vocational and technical education through a wide range of initiatives. 

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