How many graduates do employers really need?

SIR – It is time for the Government – together with employer organisations, the Ministry of Defence, the NHS, the police, the CBI and so on – to establish how many graduates the country needs, in order to avoid burdening large numbers of young people with debts that they will probably be unable to repay.

One hears of graduate nurses who are “too posh to wash” and graduate police who are “too posh to patrol” – yet front-line ward nurses and police on the beat are surely the key requirement.

As I recall, entry to these positions 40 years ago required five O-levels, including English and mathematics. A few people then went on to degrees and higher management roles, but with a basic practical knowledge that is often lacking in graduates.

I studied for my degree between the ages of 25 and 27, while I was a serving merchant navy engineer. Such a system makes it possible to avoid large student debts.

In my subsequent experience (I eventually retired as a consultant), only about 10 per cent of people at work needed degrees. Jonathan Clark

Bournemouth, Dorset

SIR – Nick Timothy (Comment, August 17) refers to sub-degree qualifications, of which apprenticeships are a good example.

Here in the east Midlands we have created the Agricultural Engineering Traineeship and Apprenticeship Scheme, which allows young people to gain a “high labour market value and contribute to productivity growth”.

A vital part of the scheme is to make school pupils aware of such opportunities – hence the traineeship aspect whereby they take a summer placement with a local agricultural engineering company to see how useful a paid apprenticeship can be.

We need to persuade parents and teachers of the value of these alternatives to university – and end the often pejorative attitude to “technical training”. Geoffrey Bond

Southwell, Nottinghamshire