I welcome the announcement in the Chancellor’s budget today of a boost in funding for UK skills. This comes up time and time again at the local and national level when talking about increasing productivity. People getting better skills and landing higher paid work will increase UK productivity over the longer term. Having a greater focus on technical skills (T-levels) in further education with more practical pathways into work will offer an alternative to A-levels and the academic route.
I do also welcome the National Productivity Investment Fund providing 1,000 additional PhD places to align with areas in its Industrial Strategy, along with more money for research fellowships (a post-Brexit strategy to boost the skills of UK students). The emphasis here is on the “triple helix” approach where Government provides the funding for Universities to collaborate with businesses through industrial partnership and aims to benefit the wider community in the process.
For more information on the University’s independent Industrial Strategy Commission see:
