Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucysgirl
I can definitely say that Thatcher did entice and pay for uni courses. My daughter had already graduated then joined time served electricians, engineers and others at university in Thatcher's newly set up "Design and Technolgy" degree course. This was set up to increase our exports, because France, for example, were refusing to import our products due to them not being "pleasing to look at" This government has put more money into bursaries for maths & science degree courses. I like to be fair and if I could recall Blair & Brown giving out freebie courses I would set them down here too - maybe someone else could shine alight.
What is so depressing is that when there's a turn up in trade the majority of company job vacancies always stipulate "with experience" - the experience usually anything between two and five years. This government is trying to solve this problem of the need for "experience" - in fact my grandson is in the middle of his degree course and currently serving one year full time "job experience".... I doubt that will be long enough to satisfy future vacancy requirements and we'll be experiencing more immigration when the job markets open up.
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Yes, she did. She destroyed the industrial backbone of the country to break the unions and then realised that the balance of payments was screwed. Destroying industry meant that there was a disctinct lack of apprenticeships, unemployment in school leavers went through the roof. Being a self confessed design freak, she created what were basically mickey mouse degrees in box and package design, and the result was that we now need power saws to open packets of bacon, and most pieces of furniture come flat packed with non biodegradable polystyrene and mountains of bubble wrap. Over simplified puerile argument perhaps, but my point is she had an agenda and wasn't being altruistic about education for the masses.
But anyway, I thought we were discussing proper sciences, Maths, Science, Engineering and the associated scientific/engineering Technology. Yes, you get bog standard means tested bursaries for them, but the significant bursaries are privately funded and extremely limited. So I stand by my comment of lucky enough, wealthy enough etc...
As for the experience/qualification argument...the apprenticeship system used to work just fine before it was twisted beyond recognition by the previous and now the current government to massage the figures.
As an employer I'd take experience over qualification any day of the week, 'walking the walk over talking the talk'. I think more effort should be made by government to entice employers to invest in education. They should help them to take on a kid, give them tax/national insurance breaks to educate him and, more importantly, allow them to fire him if he isn't cutting the mustard, and not accuse them of bullying if they send him to get a bobbin of Whitworth thread.