Kemi Badenoch reveals plan to slash 100,000 university places

Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch plans to introduce a ‘student number cap’ system, a move estimated to cut university places across the country by 100,000.

The leader claims the policy will target “low-quality courses”, which leave young people with “crippling loans” and few job prospects.

Badenoch has justified the policy by arguing it will save over £3 billion in losses from loan repayments, allowing investment into high-level apprenticeships.

Cutting course places and restricting access to higher education may be contrary to […] economic growth

The discourse around whether university is the correct path for many young people has been prominent for a while, with many calling for a returned focus on apprenticeships in trades or technical education.

The Conservatives have brought this into a new perspective, calling for an “apprenticeship revolution”, which they say will benefit both students and the taxpayer who take on the debt burden.

Many oppose the plan –University and College Union (UCU) General Secretary, Jo Grady has described Badenoch’s plan as “economically illiterate”.

There is a broad cross-party consensus that the current university system is flawed

She cautions that cutting course places and restricting access to higher education may be contrary to the economic growth the party aims to deliver.

Former Conservative Universities Minister David Willetts, has also shown scepticism around the policy, pointing that it stems from a “nostalgic desire” to have a “different economic structure”.

The assumption that Britain can still run an industrial economy is no longer relevant in a modern world.

All major parties seem to agree the system needs reform

The questions over whether the expansion of apprenticeships can actually work and meet the demands of the evolving economy remain at the forefront of minds.

There is a broad cross-party consensus that the current university system is flawed.

At the recent Labour Party conference, Prime Minister Keir Starmer revealed new higher education participation targets, with a special focus on growing apprenticeships.

All major parties seem to agree the system needs reform – but the debate over how to carry out these changes is an ever-present discourse.