Who needs a degree?

TEENAGERS who opt for an apprenticeship rather than an academic degree don’t only do so in order to learn a skilled trade, such as plumbing or bricklaying (letters).

I took a craft apprenticeship with an engineering firm in Newcastle that paid for me to go to technical college to study for a Higher National Diploma in mechanical engineering.

I ended up as a qualified project engineer on power stations overseas. An apprenticeship is an alternative route to a professional qualification for those like me who don’t fancy going to university.

BRIAN M. ARCHER, Killingworth, Tyne & Wear.