Cameron’s vow to boost apprenticeships snubbed by IMechE

During campaign visits to Cumbria and BAE Systems' facilities at Warton, the Prime Minister highlighted the importance of apprenticeships as a career choice and as a means of sustaining and developing the UK skills base. By 2015, he said he wanted almost 20,000 young people a year to be taking degree equivalent Higher Apprenticeships in sectors such as aerospace and renewable energy. While welcoming the news as a whole, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers has raised concerns over Cameron's commitment given the government's recent decision to downgrade the engineering diploma. Following Cameron's speech, Philippa Oldham, head of manufacturing at the IMechE, said: "David Cameron is absolutely right to underline the importance of vocational education to the revival of British industry, which makes it all the more surprising that his government is considering downgrading the engineering diploma. "The UK is facing an engineering skills shortage that could put the brakes on growth in some of our most important industries. Devaluing a diploma which can be the first step towards an engineering career, giving students hands on work experience as well as a vital grounding in maths and physics, would be a serious backwards step." As part of its review of vocational qualifications, the government has proposed to downgrade the engineering diploma from the equivalent of five GCSEs to just one. The diploma requires 20 hours of lesson time a week, involves arranging hands on work experience for students and can require expensive equipment to run, meaning that without the incentive of five GCSEs many students could choose not to take it and schools not to run it. There are widespread concerns within the industry that this could spell the end of the only pure engineering qualification available to under 18s.