In a report to be released later this week, the former prime minister will recommend that by 2040 up to 70% of young people should go to TE, potentially boosting economic growth by almost 5% in the next generation. Mr Blair’s proposal, which is based on the 50% target he set when he was in government, is a challenge for the current government, which – the report notes – appears “increasingly skeptical” of the value of EI. “Not to reach the ‘top level’, as some in the government argue, we will need much more skilled workers acquired at EI sites,” the report said. “So we have to start a multi-parliamentary effort to substantially improve the educational level by paying attention to the skills that our workforce will need not today, but in 20 or 30 years.” According to Blair, the goal should be to increase the share of SA to 60% by 2030 and 70% by 2040, according to other high-innovation economies around the world. The target is people under the age of 30 who are pursuing higher education and not just those who drop out of school and go to university. Universities are providers of higher education, but higher education is also provided in other institutions, including colleges for further education. The plans are backed by Jo Johnson, a former higher education minister and the prime minister’s brother. “We do not yet have enough highly qualified people to fill many vacancies today,” he wrote in the foreword to the report, which was quoted in the Times on Monday and published by the Tony Blair Institute. Lord Johnson added: “As we continue to mature as a knowledge economy, more jobs will be created in areas that disproportionately employ graduates. Highly innovative economies such as South Korea, Japan and Canada understand this and have enhanced higher education. The participation rates in these countries are already between 60% and 70%. We do not have the luxury of keeping politics exclusively immersed in today’s challenges, and our ambition must be to participate in them. “ The government is considering reintroducing controls on the number of students in the UK, possibly linked to graduates’ salaries, as well as creating minimum entry requirements for university courses. Mr Blair’s report warns that squeezing HE ‘s involvement “will leave Britons unprepared for the economy of the future”. In 1999, Blair pledged that 50 percent of young adults would go to college “in the next century.” This goal was well under way in 2017, when half of young people were likely to join the AU for the first time by the age of 30, with Blair aiming to include those studying for professional qualifications, such as higher diplomas. Nick Hillman, director of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, welcomed the former prime minister’s intervention. “I think Tony Blair is right about that. “We have already achieved the old target of 50% and it is clear that now we have to go further, as we are lagging behind other countries and employers are shouting for highly skilled people.” A spokesman for the Ministry of Education said: “Our universities have an important role to play in our education system, but this path is not always in the interest of the individual or the nation. “The Secretary of Education was clear about his vision for a high quality skills system that meets the needs of our employers and our economy, while ensuring that we have high quality professional and technical choices that are just as rewarding and rewarding as our academic journeys.”
