By Darren Fell Crunch Accounting Speaking at the dawn of the new millennium, Tony Blair set out an ambitious target to get 50% of all young people into academia.

“Education, education, education” would be the cure for the UK’s economic ills, a generation of degree holders the key to Britain’s prosperity.

Over a decade on, Blair’s target is yet to be achieved and it’s one that now appears fraught with failure, with school leavers and sixth formers increasingly shunning university because of the prospect of gargantuan fees. They are instead examining alternatives and apprenticeships are going through a rebirth, with soaring numbers applying for courses in areas such as manufacturing, construction and engineering. As an ex-apprentice and alumni of Brighton College of Technology (now City College Brighton and Hove), this growing trend is something I welcome.

The growing popularity and championing of apprenticeship schemes is surely a better policy than urging endless 16-yearolds into A levels and a subsequent university education. Not all people are suited for university and pushing pupils into academia is not only damaging to their own career prospects but also to the wider economy.

Already, we’re seeing skill gaps exacerbated by past neglect of vocational courses and apprenticeship schemes. In my case, studying for an HND offered me a chance to gain real electronic and manufacturing experience, with my local further education college providing access to first-rate teaching in data communications, programming and chip design.

Relentlessly practical, the course was an excellent antidote to the more staid world of academia. In contrast to academically slanted A levels, studying in this more vocational capacity I developed skills that were easily translatable to the workplace.

After successful completion of the course, continuing on to a Masters at Brighton Polytechnic was an option, but once the engineering apprenticeship at Mercury Communications came up, I naturally grabbed the chance.

The apprenticeship with a telecommunications company vying for supremacy with BT cultivated and developed skills in a wealth of areas. Rather than sitting in lecture theatres, I was sharpening and building upon the expertise garnered during my HND. Thrust into all kinds of situations I was forced to learn quickly on the job, crisis management skills sculpted alongside an ability to think innovatively and creatively. Elsewhere, the responsibility placed upon me shaped skills in project management whilst liaising with customers and clients on a daily basis enhanced interpersonal skills and ability to client face. These are all skills relevant to an entrepreneurial career.

My early apprenticeship gave me the foundations required for a fruitful life in business and they’re something I wish more young people would embrace. Coupled with a vocational course, they’re an invaluable route to employment and a much better route than three years spent building up huge debt.

David Cameron has pledged to make apprenticeships the “new norm” for non-academic school leavers and is the right sort of policy.

I, for one, hope he backs up his words with action.