Diploma in life skills

HOW refreshing to see Nick Boles MP promoting technical diplomas as an alternative to an expensive three-year degree (Mail).

I left the then Manchester Polytechnic in 1970 with a Higher National Diploma in mathematics, statistics and computing. The two-year course was rigorous and intensive with a full programme of lectures and practical work.

To gain the diploma, we had to pass every exam and have a good attendance record. It gave me an in- depth understanding of IT and enabled me to always find work. I

dread to think of young people being saddled with the enormous debts that go with degrees that might or might not help them get a job.

Wouldn’t it be great if twoyear intensive practical and technical higher level courses with on-the-job training could help tackle the shortages in nursing and teaching?

WENDY EIFFLAENDER, Congleton, Cheshire.