The purpose of education is to give people the skills that will lead to a fulfilling working life, education secretary Gavin Williamson has said.
Speaking at today’s HEPI conference on the importance of learning from the pandemic and higher education reform, Mr Williamson said colleges and universities had to reconsider how they can work much more closely together, and work with employers to create course content that responds to gaps in the labour market.
“We have already been rolling out new employer-led apprenticeships and T levels, our new technical qualifications, while our Skills for Jobs White Paper will change the entire landscape of post-16 education. Because we must never forget that the purpose of education is to give people the skills that will lead to a fulfilling working life,” said Mr Williamson.
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He added the Augar report on post-18 education and funding looked at how to give employers the skilled workforce they and the economy need, and at the same time provide good value for money. “As a government, we have begun to take steps to remove perverse incentives, such as the bizarre circumstances whereby media studies is funded at a higher rate than mathematics,” Mr Williamson said.
Universities should follow colleges’ example, says Gavin Williamson
Universities have to increase the number of courses that are aligned with the economy’s needs, the education secretary added, and support and drive regional growth and productivity, “particularly where that is weak”. “And to do this, they’ll need to change, and we will not be slow to step in if those changes are not happening,” he said.
“But so often we see universities around the country doing this, but we need more of you to do this more regularly. It is time for universities to follow the lead of further education colleges and look beyond what has worked in the past.
“Increasingly they will need to offer more higher technical qualifications and apprenticeships. These should be geared to real jobs and the actual skills needs of local employers and the economy.”
Mr Williamson stressed this was not an attack on the arts. “Many of our arts institutions are world leaders and every subject can be taught well, and so many universities do teach it well, and every subject can lead to good outcomes.”
Philip Augar’s report was published in May 2019. It said HE funding should be frozen for three years to “help fund investment in other parts of post-18 education”. It also called for a lifelong learning loan allowance available in modules, an employer-focused suite of higher technical qualifications and free intermediate education for “second chance” adults delivered through a strengthened FE college network.
