silverguide.site –

Your article (Go to university! No, get a trade! How can young people survive when all the paths are landmined?, 23 February) makes a good argument for a university education, but many commentators are missing a crucial lesson from the past. This is not a question of “either/or” but of “and”.

In the 1960s, I was lucky enough to undertake a “thick sandwich course” in engineering. The “thick” bit was not, I like to think, a commentary on the capabilities of the participants; it indicated the structure of the programme.

I, along with about 20 others, spent my first year in industry as a student apprentice and was taught alongside the traditional apprentices. We then undertook three years at university, followed by a final year back in industry.

This final year involved what would today be called work experience across various departments, ranging from engineering to export sales, before we were offered a job.

During our first year, senior managers emphasised that this was an industry-wide initiative that was supported by all the major engineering companies. Thus, it was no surprise that many of us ended up working for employers other than our original sponsors.

Although this took five years of our lives, we emerged for the most part as functioning adults with a pretty clear view of what we wanted to do. Crucially, we were also immediately employable.

There were also “thin” sandwich courses on offer, in which apprenticeships, degree education and work experience were combined over four years, with fewer holiday breaks.

It seems to me that today’s apprenticeship levies would be far better spent reimagining a 21st-century version of these courses.

By bringing industries – including the arts and service sectors – and academia together, we could create an altogether different and genuinely useful experience for those on whom the future of our country depends.
Philip Oliver
Farnham, Surrey

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