Too many courses in universities ¡°are not now delivering value¡±, Boris Johnson said, as he signalled that further education would be prioritised when the government bids to rebuild the UK economy after the coronavirus pandemic.

In a speech delivered at a college of technology in Dudley, setting out plans for the economy to ¡°bounce back better¡±, the prime minister said that ¡°for a century we have failed to invest enough in further education and give young people the practical training and further education they need¡±.

Contrasting this with the higher education sector, Mr Johnson said that the UK has ¡°umpteen fantastic, globally outstanding universities, and yet too many degree courses are not now delivering value¡±.

Mr Johnson said that ?1.5?billion would be invested in refurbishing ¡°dilapidated¡± further education colleges, ¡°because it is time the system recognised that talent and genius are expressed as much by hand and by eye as they are in a spreadsheet or an essay¡±.

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Mr Johnson¡¯s comments on higher education in the speech focused on access, saying that he wanted to ¡°end the current injustice that means a pupil from a London state school is now 50?per cent more likely to go to a top university than a pupil from the West Midlands¡±.

¡°That is not only unjust, it is such a waste of human talent,¡± the prime minister said.

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Mr Johnson, did, however, highlight the creation of a new research funding agency modelled on the US¡¯ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which will support ¡°high-risk, high-reward projects¡±.

¡°Though we are no longer a military superpower, we can be a science superpower,¡± the prime minister said, adding that a priority would be to ¡°end the chasm between invention and application that means a brilliant British discovery disappears to California and becomes a billion-dollar American company or a Chinese company¡±.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com