Learning...or time to start earning?

Student

LUCY ARMSTRONG , governor of Northumbria University and chief executive of Newcastle- based venture capitalist company The Alchemists.

‘FIRST let’s take a dispassionate look at the money, as I suspect this may the underlying concern.

I believe it is more accurate to regard student loans as a graduate tax.

Graduates do not have to pay off their loans until they earn £21,000. Let’s face it, there are not many ways to borrow money where you don’t have to pay off the loan until your income exceeds a set amount.

Moving to university can be the first time a student learns the basics of managing a budget and I do understand this can be a harsh lesson for them – and their parents.

However, much of my working life with The Alchemists is advising growing and successful businesses, devising ways to manage cash flow, investigating how to secure investment to make sure the business survives and grows. The principles are the same, although I am sure many businesses envy the terms and conditions of a student’s loan.

SO is the financial effort worth it? Undoubtedly, yes.

My time as an undergraduate at Oxford helped to shape the way I approach life and work. I was privileged to come into contact with leading minds, academics researching subjects they were passionate about, shaping the thinking about their disciplines.

As you would expect, I developed analytical and thinking skills of my own, the ability to argue and present a case.

I learnt how to live with diverse groups of people, respecting alternative perspectives.

Above all I learnt the importance of asking, ‘Why?’.

My first jobs were in private equity and corporate development, where these analytical skills coupled with judicious use of ‘why?’ proved the perfect foundation for my career.

I soon realised I was motivated by a desire to make things happen, finding myself increasingly posing the question, ‘how?’. So, I returned to university, this time to hone specific business skills by studying for an MBA. Here the emphasis was on implementation, learning from academics and from fellow students’ experiences.

So, once again, university became an integral part of my career development.

IFIRMLY belive that it is essential to continue learning and challenging yourself, so when I became a member of the Independent Monitoring Board, a watchdog ensuring prisoners are treated fairly and with humanity, I embarked on my third university course.

This time an MSc in criminology.

Once again, I was encouraged to question ‘why?’, drawing valuable lessons for my working life from a completely different sector.

My unrelenting enthusiasm for the value of a university education led to an advisory role at the Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School of Management at and my appointment as a governor of Northumbria University, helping to guide its future.

Which brings me back to money.

Northumbria University, like many others, has invested in financial support for students from the least affluent backgrounds. In Northumbria’s case, it has invested £14.5m to ensure the brightest students can come to the university regardless of their background.

It can be difficult to balance the books, but university is a rewarding choice: for the student, the university, employers and the region. I urge you to take it.

Apprentice

SUE PRICE , the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) divisional apprenticeship director for the North.

‘IT’S not about one route being wrong and the other right – it’s what suits the individual.

If you’re unsure about your career path then a three-year history degree might be just the thing for you. But, if you know what you want to do with your career then an apprenticeship is a fantastic route.

You get a job, you will be earning money, you are not building up student debt and your employer can support you through to higher qualifications.

I was talking to a parent recently.

Three years ago, her son had got a place at university, but he turned around at the last minute and said he wasn’t going. For the family it felt like the end of the world and they thought his life was ruined.

But he got an apprenticeship with an accountancy firm and went on to study a higher apprenticeship.

He was earning about £15,000 a year and was saving up for a house.

Meanwhile, his three closest friends had all completed university.

One had got a job in a barristers’ chamber; one was working in Bargain Booze; and one was looking for a job. All three had debt of about £25,000 each. Looking back, his mum said she could not understand why she’s got herself into state about her son not going to university.

ON all indicators, young people in the North face a tough time.

There are increasing numbers of young people looking for work, fewer employers are taking people on and more companies are going out of business. That is the economic backdrop we are set against.

One of the positive things we have is that employers in the North-East value apprenticeships perhaps more than those in London and the South-East.

Up here, companies have a strong history of supporting apprenticeships and understanding their value. We have some very good role models.

Many senior managers and chief executives of this region’s big businesses came through that route themselves and have experienced the benefits of having a job with goldstandard training.

Our statistics show that a young person who starts an apprenticeship will earn about £100,000 more in their working life than someone who does the same job but did not do an apprenticeship.

We know that employers who go through the pain barrier of supporting an apprentice get a fantastic return on their investment in terms of increased motivation, lower staff turnover and improved productivity. They are reporting that young people are having a positive impact on their older colleagues too.

APPRENTICESHIPS can be a challenge for small firms, but our service can help.

The NAS will support them from advertising vacancies to setting up a training provider.

We have also got something at the moment called the Age Grant.

It’s for small businesses that haven’t taken on an apprentice in the last three years. If they take on an apprentice aged 16 to 24 they can get £1,500 towards their costs.

Employers complain that it takes time for the young person to become a productive member of staff. But the return on investment in many sectors can be quick. I’ll admit that in engineering it can take up to two years, but in IT it’s only six months until the apprentice has broken even on the employer’s investment and is starting to make them a profit.

There are over 250 different skills and industries, more than 1,400 different job roles so for nearly every employer there should be an apprenticeship that suits their needs.

We are offering more higher apprenticeships that are equivalent to a degree.

The message needs to be out there that people who start apprenticeships now can move up to qualifications that match what a university offers. The difference will be that they will be earning as they do it rather than building up debt.

To search for apprenticeship vacancies, go to apprenticeships.

org.uk or call 0800-015-0600.What study involves...

What Study Involves

•  Average predicted debt for UK graduates leaving university is £26,100 for those starting  
• last year, rising to £53,400 for 2012 entrants,     
•  
• However, graduates will have to pay back their loans only once they start earning £21,000,
• and any outstanding debt will be written off after 30 years.
•  Graduate employees typically earn 85 per cent more than those who left school after GCSEs, compared with 95 per cent more in 1993.
•  A person educated to A-level standard can expect to earn on average 15 per cent more than those educated to GCSE level, while a person who has higher education qualifications can expect to earn 45 per cent more than someone who left school at 16.
•  However, the latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that one
• in five graduates are earning £9.92 an hour – less than the median wage of £10 an hour
• for those educated to A-levels.
• The percentage of the UK population with a degree has more than doubled from 12 percent in 1993 to 25 per cent last year  

Or is it time for work?

In this region

•  40,970 apprenticeships started in the academic year  2010-11.
• About 400 employers are offering more than 700 opportunities through the apprenticeship
• vacancies system.
•  Since January, 1,900 employers have used the system to advertise their vacancies.
• There are seven applicants for every apprenticeship vacancy advertised.
•  Since the start of the academic year, to April, 580 fewer 16 to 18-year-olds have started
• apprenticeships in this region in comparison with the same period last year.
• Nationally:
•  The average gross weekly wage for apprentices is
• £200.
•  Apprenticeships range from traditional subjects such as nursing, IT, and horticulture to
• electric vehicle engineering, life science, fisheries management and legal services.
•  In engineering and manufacturing, 48,970 people started apprenticeships inthe 2101-11 academic year