Jobs boss: Talented teens don’t all need university

THE chairman of Britain’s biggest recruitment company says talented teenagers do not have to go to university to succeed in their careers.

James Reed, chairman of REED recruitment, said some young people would be better off missing university and the “hazy kaleidoscope of parties”, and getting relevant experience instead. The father of six warned too many university students end up saddled with debt and find their degree not worth the paper it is written on.

He said: “Once you strip away the social expectations, wouldn’t a lot of 18-year-olds in fact be better off missing university altogether and getting more relevant experience instead?”

REED, set up by James Reed’s father Sir Alec in 1960, receives 50 million job applications a year and has helped more than 150,000 long-term unemployed people back into work.

Mr Reed said: “The real question about tertiary education is being missed: should talented teenagers be going to university in the first place? As the father of six children I know how easy it is to usher your offspring towards the standard goals of good GCSEs, A- l e ve l s and a decent degree.

“Would a film studies undergraduate at an underperforming institution be better served by an apprenticeship with a production company?

Would a direction- less but ambitious school leaver be better off ignoring that clearing place and trying to learn coding through an apprenticeship or college?” He criticised “soft” courses where subjects such as David Beckham, Harry Potter or golf management are studied.

He added that most jobs people will be doing by 2030 have not been created yet, so teenagers must “futureproof ” themselves by learning to be adaptable and agile and learning new skills: “If they can get that from university, great. If they can’t, let’s not be tied to higher education as the only way. With UK productivity faring poorly against European competitors and Brexit around the corner, we need to think urgently.

“Getting better at matching skills to jobs is an obvious solution. And you don’t need a degree in anything — or £30,000 of tuition fee debt — to reach that conclusion.”