Higher Education White Paper
Debate between Lord Willetts and Marcus Jones
Mr Marcus Jones (Nuneaton) (Con)
Will the White Paper strengthen the link between universities and employers, so that we can get even more of our graduates into employment, post-university?
Mr Willetts
The White Paper is absolutely committed to that, and there are many different ways of doing it. For example, we could do it by encouraging the revival of the sandwich course, or by ensuring that university courses were kitemarked as ones that employers valued. And yes, it might indeed be the case, as we have seen with KPMG, that employers wish to sponsor students at university. If there were no Exchequer costs involved, that could provide extra places, so there are lots of different ways we could achieve what my hon. Friend quite rightly wants.