Vocational subjects key to creating an education system fit for the 21st century
By Lord Young of Graffham, the secretary of state for employment, 1985-87
Back in the mid-Nineties, I was in Singapore for Cable & Wireless, after winning their mobile contract. After the signing ceremony Lee Kuan Yew, the senior minister, invited me into his office.
“What has gone wrong with your university education?” he started quite abruptly. “I used to award government jobs on the basis of UK university degrees, but these days anyone with a first-class degree from Strathclyde University is simply unemployable!”
I never did find out why Strathclyde was chosen, but on my return discovered just how degree grades had inflated, diluting standards almost beyond recognition since my day. As a result, I went to see Gillian Shephard, the then education secretary.
When I told her what the First Minister had said and the incredible grade inflation I had discovered, she merely said: “No, it is not inflation. Students today are just cleverer.”
Well, I very much doubted that students then…
