Rishi Sunak has vowed to phase out university degrees that do not improve students’ “earning potential,” create a Russell Group of world-class technical colleges and introduce a British Baccalaureate that would prevent 16-year-olds from dropping maths and English.
The Tory leadership hopeful said his plans to reform post-16 education marked “a significant stride towards parity of esteem between vocational and academic education.”
If he becomes the next prime minister, Sunak would strengthen networks of technical institutions and their links with industry, as well as giving them powers to award degrees, his campaign said.
The former chancellor would assess university degrees through their drop-out rates, numbers in graduate jobs and salary thresholds, with exceptions for nursing and other courses with high social value….