Time for business to pay
11 April 2011
Education is subject of such importance that whenever we pass comment on it we tend to get a larger post bag than usual, and a recurring theme this week was that ‘Business Must Pay’!
In last week’s column ‘Born into a bankrupt system’, Paul Wolfe expressed his concerns that introducing university tuition fees of £9000 a year would put off potential students from embarking on further education. Just as an aside, even since Paul wrote his piece, a number of universities have announced that their fees would be either £9000 or very close to it, so the intention that top fees would be restricted to only the top institutions has gone wrong in its very first year.
There were a host of other observations and suggestions on this topic (and we really do appreciate all of them), but the one that came up most frequently was the role of industry in financing further education.
For example, Martin Wilson, Principal Personnel Safety Engineer at Diamond Light Source, said: “The government should have put the emphasis on business to provide scholarships, along the lines of ‘We need 10 electronics graduates, we’ll pay for 10 sets of fees and we’ll pick the university and the price and we’ll influence the content.’. Companies that recruit graduates and don’t provide sponsorship could pay the fees retrospectively as an education tax in the first three years after graduation. If there are no business requirements for certain degrees then they can be paid for by philanthropists, other sponsors or fees.”
Equally, Karl Miles who is Technical Sales Manager at GOEPEL electronics, went along with the idea of retrospective industry funding: “I support the raise in tuition fees and I have four kids still in school! But it is also a time for industry to get involved. I'm sure in America many employers will pay off their student debt as part of a three-year package when they start with the company. I was actually sponsored by my company for my final year after a successful year in industry, but a condition was that I passed my degree with a 2.1 or higher. I really think these last two points are being missed by the prime minister - and politicians in general - in the whole funding row.”
Andy Burnett, Proprietor of TeslaTest, added: “The trouble is as a country we can no longer afford to offer ‘Free’ education for all, especially if students are taking courses that have no added value benefit to the country and its prosperity. We desperately need to get British people training as engineers, scientists, etc and support them in their efforts. What is required is for a system where British business can sponsor students to take technical engineering/scientific/mathematical degrees and courses, combined with offering practical skills and employment during the university breaks. These courses need to be tailored to provide the skills and knowledge wanted and required by British business. This does not seem to happen. The courses in general cover the wrong subjects and provide the wrong skills to those that are required. My personal opinion is that the old fashioned apprenticeship using HNC/HND or City & Guilds qualifications with workplace experience and training is a much better way forward, especially for engineering type companies, with the companies setting and defining the curriculum required for the course.
“On a similar point I have a lot of contact with universities and post graduates, and R&D projects undertaken at universities as our products are used extensively in this environment, but why are most of these people Chinese, Korean, Indian and every nationality except British? We are seriously under training and under motivating our young people. We are NOT giving them the courage, will, motivation and passion for entering the engineering and scientific areas of British business and society. This is starting in the primary schools and continues through secondary schools to universities. How many secondary schools have metal working shops, woodworking shops and train children in the manufacturing of a product after designing it? It does not matter how bad the item looks or how impractical it is - it does matter that the person is given the training and motivation to design and to try to produce an item from scratch and raw materials. The problem is that very few secondary schools do this anymore. Sure they all have banks of overpriced computers they have been conned into purchasing which is producing generations of people with no practical skills or motivation to do engineering tasks, all we get it computerised zombies who think the entire world revolves around a computer unfortunately it does NOT.”
As a practical solution for prospective students within the current framework, Chris Green, Technical Director of Silver Telecom, commented: “Former polytechnics charging the full £9kpa fees is not on. I think the way forward is for students to say "stuff the universities' fees". They should get a job and enroll with the Open University. This way they can get paid, get work experience and get a degree at the same time. It may take a bit longer than a full time degree, and it will be a hard grind to work and study, but at the end they will be much more attractive to potential employers and they will have no debt. A £30k+ debt up front for a £100k more lifetime earnings just doesn't make sense on a discounted cash flow analysis. It's a very bad deal.”
There were plenty more, and nobody actually wrote in suggesting a return to a completely free further education. But everyone agreed that the way the system is now evolving is bad and a poor deal all round for students, for universities and for the British electronics industry.
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