United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has revealed that attending university does not ensure success. The politician made this revelation via his account on the social media platform, X on Wednesday, May 29, 2024.
Rishi’s declaration follows his government’s actions to diminish the appeal of the United Kingdom’s education to international individuals.
Recall that the nation enforced certain measures while Sunak was in office that discouraged prospective immigrants from entering the UK, particularly those planning to arrive through educational channels.
Sunak’s disclosure explains why Officials in UK universities worry about the economic fallout from a sharp decline in international student enrollments due to strict immigration policies.
Some of the policies are -increased IHS, and the inability to come with dependents.
In 2023, the U.K. announced a plan to curb net migration by preventing international students from bringing family members with them while studying in the U.K., unless they are studying in postgraduate research courses, such as research-based PhDs and research-based master’s programs.
What Followed Sunak’s Statement
Subsequently, internet users began criticizing the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who graduated from Oxford University and Stanford University.
While reacting to Sunak’s post, a social media user comments, “Says the Oxbridge public school boy who married a billionaire’s daughter.” Another said, “…just marry a billionaire.”
This statement was a criticism directed towards Sunak, who got married to Akshata Murty, the daughter of Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys, and Sudha Murty, an author.
Many also accused Sunak of “discouraging people from getting an education”. One user posted, “Nothing to see here, just the Prime Minister discouraging people from getting an education.
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According to the Sunday Times List 2024, the couple’s fortune increased by £120 million to an estimated £651 million. According to the report, Murty’s shareholding in Infosys is the couple’s most valued asset.
“Over the past year the shares have grown in value by £108.8 million to nearly £590 million. The latest annual report suggests that Murty received about £13 million in dividends during that time — adding to the more than £60 million she has been paid in previous years,” the report added.
More Insights
Rishi Sunak’s recent post came just ahead of the July 4 general election in the UK. Sunak set July 4 as the date for the election, months ahead of when it was expected.
In anticipation of the election, the British Prime Minister has promised to create 100,000 high-skilled apprenticeships a year by scrapping “rip-off degrees” if he wins the general election.
Sunak’s political party, The Conservatives also made yet another announcement in their efforts to close the 20-point poll lead held by Labour. In this latest announcement, the party has promised to replace university degrees that are deemed to be of “low quality” with apprenticeships.
The proposals include a bill that would authorize the Office for Students, the regulatory body for universities, to shut down degree programs that are not meeting expectations. The selection criteria would be dropout rates, career advancement opportunities, and potential future earnings.
The Conservatives said creating 100,000 high-skilled apprenticeships would cost £885m by the end of the next parliament in 2029-30. This would be paid for by shutting down the worst-performing university degrees, which would save an estimated £910m.
Sunak said that;“improving education is the closest thing we have to a silver bullet for boosting life chances”. He pledged to create thousands more apprenticeships by “putting an end to rip-off degrees and offering our young people the employment opportunities and financial security they need to thrive”.
The Conservatives claim to have delivered 5.8m apprenticeships since 2010. But the number of people starting on apprenticeships in England is in decline, falling from 500,000 in 2015 to 337,000 last year, according to Commons library statistics.
The introduction of the apprenticeship levy in 2017-18 and the Covid-19 pandemic have hurt the number of people starting apprenticeships.
Labour has pledged to replace the apprenticeship levy with a growth and skills levy to fund other types of training. It would allow businesses to use 50% of their funds to pay for non-apprenticeship training.
As they launched their apprenticeship policy, the Conservatives attacked New Labour’s legacy of getting more young people to university. In 1999, Tony Blair set a target to get 50% of young adults into higher education.
Gillian Keegan, the education secretary who completed an apprenticeship at a car factory in Kirkby, said: “When Labour was in power they pushed an arbitrary target to get half of the young people to university, creating a boom in low-quality degrees – leaving far too many students saddled with debt and little else”.
Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said the announcement was “laughable”, noting the decline in apprenticeships.
“Why on earth should parents and young people believe they’ll create training opportunities now, after 14 years of failing to deliver opportunities for young people and the skills needed to grow our economy?” she said.
“Labour will get our economy growing again by gearing apprenticeships to young people and delivering a new growth and skills levy to provide the skills businesses need. We’ll create a new generation of technical excellence colleges, working with employers and our world-class universities, to get people into good jobs in their area.”
