Decisive action must follow the warm words about degree apprenticeships

A new report published recently by the social mobility charity the Sutton Trust, has claimed that higher-level apprenticeships are being snapped up by the middle classes and have become as sought after as a traditional university degree.

Universities have never been under more pressure to demonstrate their worth. Not only to their students and funders, but also to their communities in the cities and towns where they are located.

Transforming the UK by ‘spreading opportunity and prosperity to all parts of it’ was the central commitment of the government’s long awaited white paper on levelling up, which was finally published last week.

The UK’s leading entrepreneurial university is in Sheffield – what does this mean for the city and region?

With origins in the design, manufacturing and fabrication industries of Victorian Sheffield, through to the pioneering innovations of Sheffield City Polytechnic, Hallam is firmly rooted in the making and creating heritage of South Yorkshire.

One of the big winners in UK chancellor Rishi Sunak’s summer statement is the housing market, where stamp duty has been scrapped for all house purchases under £500,000 until March 2021. This will cost the Treasury £3.8 billion, about 0.4% of the total tax take, and comes in response to four months of falls in house prices – their worst performance in almost a decade.

There are nearly seven million 16-24 years olds in the UK. As many of this group finish school, college or university, they face the real prospect of long-term unemployment.