WIREDGOV

The CBI today commented on a Universities UK (UUK) report on part-time and mature higher education (HE).

Katja Hall, CBI Chief Policy Director, said:

“It’s shocking that the number of part-time undergraduate students has plummeted over the last two years. For our economy to stay competitive we’ll need more people with higher levels of skills, so it’s more important than ever that working people have the opportunity to re-train and up-skill.

“We need to raise awareness of what courses are already on offer by introducing a UCAS-style system with a single website listing the full range of business-backed university courses and industry-run training programmes.

“The Government should work with businesses to align funding for equivalent or lower qualification courses with the UK’s industrial strategy priorities. And higher education places that are fully funded by employers should be removed from the student numbers quota because they are no burden on the taxpayer.”