Headlines
UK's Starmer replaces Blair-era university target with broader skills ambition
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on September 30, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
The UK government is replacing its university attendance target with a focus on skills development, aiming for two-thirds of young people to gain higher-level skills by age 25.
LIVERPOOL (Reuters) -The British government said on Tuesday it would scrap a target of getting 50% of young people going to university, and would instead aim to have two-thirds obtain "higher-level skills" by the age of 25 with increased use of apprenticeships.
The goal is part of a wider effort to align education with labour market needs as part of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government's promise of tackling youth unemployment.
"I don't think the way we currently measure success in education - that ambition to get 50% of kids to uni - I don't think that's right for our times," Starmer said on Tuesday during his speech at his Labour party's annual conference in Liverpool.
A target of sending half of young people to university or higher education in Britain was set by former Labour Prime minister Tony Blair in 1999, and it was hit 20 years later.
Blair had argued it could expand the life chances of people from poorer households and boost the national skillset. But critics argued it saddled students with debt and that trainee schemes and employment would have been better for some.
To reach the target of two-thirds of young people going to university, further education, or to a "gold standard apprenticeship", the government said it would allocate 800 million pounds ($1 billion) in funding for 16 to 19-year-olds in 2026-27, supporting an additional 20,000 students.
On Monday, finance minister Rachel Reeves announced that every young people who received Universal Credit benefit payments for 18 months "without earning or learning" would be guaranteed an offer of unspecified paid work.
($1 = 0.7438 pounds)
(Reporting by Alistair Smout and Andrew MacAskill in Liverpool, writing by Sam Tabahriti in London; editing by Michael Holden)
Youth unemployment refers to the situation where individuals aged 15-24 are unable to find work despite actively seeking employment. It is a significant issue affecting economic growth and social stability.
Higher-level skills are advanced competencies that go beyond basic education, often including specialized knowledge and practical abilities required for skilled jobs, particularly in technical and professional fields.
An apprenticeship is a training program that combines on-the-job training with classroom instruction, allowing individuals to gain practical experience while earning a wage, often leading to a recognized qualification.
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