Is the problem that there aren’t apprenticeships and that, as a service industry nation there isn’t the work for craftspeople anyway? I think that universities like Nottingham Trent that have close links with industry are good. I remember years ago chatting to an American guy and was horrified when he told me how much debt he was in because of uni fees. When my kids were at uni student loans didn’t have to be paid off with a huge interest rate; that suddenly ( and with very little publicity or notification) ended when my son had left uni. We made sure neither of them started life with a huge debt. If my son gained anything from university it was the friends he made there. For a couple of years after they graduated they all travelled round Europe by train each summer and they still meet up. They seem to share a real bond. Ditto my ex who is still very close to his best friends from uni. Two of them live in Bristol and one of them sadly has dementia and the other one, who lives nearby is supporting him. I wish I’d been encouraged to go to uni when it was free to go to; even though I was quite academic no one seemed to suggest to me that I could do so.
