Joining the dots

For decades, young people have been told the same story: work hard, go to university, and the rewards will follow. But for too many graduates today, that promise rings hollow. They invest huge amounts of time, ambition, and money in their degrees – only to find limited opportunities and a job market that feels stuck in the past. This is not about individual failings. It is about talent going to waste because our education and skills system is not in sync with the economy we actually have –or, even more obviously, the economy we’ll have in the next five, 10, or 20 years. The gap leaves graduates frustrated, employers crying out for talent, and growth and innovation stalled.

The underlying problem is not laziness from students or complacency in universities. It is that our system is fragmented. Schools, colleges, and universities operate largely independently. Businesses rarely geta say in what’s taught. Governments react slowly, often with short-term fixes rather than long-term strategies. If we want to give graduates genuine opportunities, the answer is obvious: join the dots. Education providers must work in close partnership with businesses, local leaders, and the wider public sector to deliver opportunities for the future.

Take Medway, the local authority area where my patch, Rochester and Strood, is located. Our local universities and Mid Kent college share facilities and avoid duplicate courses. It makes sense: pooling resources, cutting waste, and giving students training where the local economy is growing. With the green transition on the horizon, we need more of this approach everywhere – preparing engineers, supporting retrofitting specialists, and creating the next generation of scientists. Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) can help, but only if they are tied to real industry demand and include small and medium enterprises. The new Labour government gives us the chance to be bolder.

At a recent roundtable I chaired on green skills, one point came through clearly. Enthusiasm for net zero is high, but training to create the workforce needed to deliver it is not yet there. This picture of limited opportunity runs across sectors. In the NHS, newly-qualified doctors struggle to find placements locally. In construction, apprenticeships are in demand, but jobs don’t always follow.

Government spending must go hand in hand with workforce planning. Big infrastructure projects like the Lower Thames Crossing are important in their own right; but crucially, they will also create jobs and apprenticeships for local people. The health secretary’s ‘graduate guarantee’ plan for nursing and midwifery is welcome for the same reason – it will provide opportunities and reduce reliance on overseas workers.

Apprenticeships in digital industries, construction, or health are as important as academic degrees, and young people should be able to choose the right path for them without stigma. But this is not a battle between traditional academic and technical routes. We need both. Labour’s ‘youth guarantee’ – ensuring every young person has access to education, training, or work –is set to give people greater choice. The recent announcement that the trailblazer scheme will be extended for another year is welcome, but we need a UK-wide rollout.

Other countries show what happens when education and industry work together. Germany’s dual system combines classroom study with company-based training, keeping youth employment high and industry strong. Denmark has invested heavily in green skills and lifelong learning, helping it to lead the world in offshore wind. Singapore’s Skills Future encourages people to keep learning and reskilling throughout their careers, with government and industry planning together.

We do not need to copy these systems wholesale, but we can learn from them. Britain finally has its own blueprint: our industrial strategy identifies sectors where we must grow, including clean energy, advanced manufacturing, health, and care. But we must make sure the skills pipeline is ready and reflects local economies and business needs. That means better coordination across Whitehall, giving local leaders powers to shape training, and prioritising government expenditure.

Most of all, we need a new mindset. Education does not stop at graduation. It is a lifelong endeavour, equipping people not just with knowledge but with opportunity. For graduates, that means leaving university confident their debt was worthwhile. For employers, it means a steady flow of talent ready for the future. And for Britain, it means an economy that is fairer, greener, and better prepared for what comes next. The government recently published more on the Lifelong Learning Entitlement – a huge cultural shift which will be crucial to developing our labour market. The social contract between education and opportunity has frayed under the last Conservative government. But it can be repaired – if we join the dots.

Image credit: olia danilevich via pexels