Sir Phillip Green
Was on Radio 4 this morning talking about his Retail Academy.
The main thrust this morning was his clear dislike of graduates who pitch up at Arcadia with "irrelevant" degrees wishing to have a career in retail. He said he'd rather take on a 17-year old with common sense and train them. A graduate at 22 or 23 years of age will still have to go through the same process. In fact they maybe a bit of a liability, all that student debt.
I think many of us share his view that university degrees for 50% of our youth is a flawed policy of this current Government. What Sir Phillip was saying, is that we need Technical Colleges churning out plumbers, electricians, engineers and so on.
Do you agree, or should we import labour from abroad to fill the skills gap?
5 comments:
I think it is typical of someone like Sir Philip to be disparaging of students. Just becuase he was not one.
Some degrees are indeed awful and not worth it. This should be discouraged, but Sir Phillip is saying all graduate are a waste of time.
I strongly disagree with this. Yes we need more vocational training and better career planning.
However only 50% of people go to uni. This is not too much, but enough. In the global society/economy people need advanced skills to command decent wages.
Suggesting uni is too much may be fine for Sir Phillip and his wish to have stores full of shop assistants, but that is no way to build a lasting economy.
What does he care anyway? He lives in Monaco to avoid paying any tax.
I think your being a bit harsh on SPG. (I detect a tad of sour grapes) This country needs a load more like him I would suggest. So he lives in Monte Carlo. So what.
His successful businesses and the people they employ pay taxes. Better that than no business and no tax revenue.
We should be providing sufficient technical college places for students who would prefer a skill or trade rather than a degree.
We talk about skills shortages in this country yet Labour does nothing to resolve it. There is no guarantee we can import labour of the required calibre to fill the gaps we have anyway.
People of a high calibre might prefer to go to a country boasting better infrastructure and quality of life rather than come here. Only by developing our own skilled society can we retain a modicum of competitiveness in the world.
People of a higher calibre have frequently left these shores for pastures new whether it be California, Australia, NZ or elsewhere. Gifted entrepreneurs dislike the stodgy, bureaucratic way things are done in this country. Margaret Thatcher tried and failed to change the "English" way. The English need to change not politicians.
I suppose if you have a degree the thinking is that you have more options to change career if one type of job does not work out. But some degrees are pretty useless and I know, having worked in FE, how some students are dragged, almost kicking and screaming, through the series of loops that will get them into a uni. This is just not fair on those who do it properly. We do need to train more people in technical skills, yes. And I'm afraid that 50% of the population are not capable of sustaining a higher ed course; that's a sad but true fact and I speak as one who used to really believe it was possible. But let's not undervalue any skill: I might have a languages degree, for what it's worth, but I can't change a washer, knock a nail into the wall straight or repair the washing machine. I am only too happy to call and pay those who can and I value them.
Post a Comment