David Cameron marked the start of National Apprenticeship Week yesterday by assuring that apprenticeships will be the “new norm” for those who decide they don’t want to go to university.
He made this remark during a visit to a training academy in Buckinghamshire.
Mr Cameron called for the expansion of apprenticeship schemes after the Centre for Economics and Business Research published figures that indicate that apprenticeships completed in the next ten years could deliver £3.4 billion in productivity gains a year to the UK economy by 2022.
He said apprenticeships should be “at the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy,” and suggested the UK follows the examples of Germany.
Most school leavers in the European country either go to university or start an apprenticeship.
The Prime Minister continued: “Our drive to reform and strengthen apprenticeships, raising standards and making them more rigorous means that an apprenticeship is increasingly seen as a first-choice career move.
“But we need to challenge ourselves to go even further. That is why I want it to be the new norm for young people to either go to university or into an apprenticeship.”
