Make apprenticeships equal to degrees, says former Dragon

Apprenticeships should be viewed as valuable a qualification as university degrees, entrepreneur Doug Richard has recommended as part of his radical review of Britain's apprentice system. 

In a government-commissioned report, the former star of BBC TV's Dragons' Den and founder of School for Startups said apprenticeships were too often seen as "second class". 

The US-born entrepreneur recommended that the system needs to be overhauled so that an "18-year-old who looked at their options and turned down a place at Oxbridge" will happily turn to an apprenticeship as an alternative.

The government has strongly promoted apprenticeship schemes over recent years but Richard said he was concerned about the quality of some schemes. "Simply enough, not all instances of training on a job are apprenticeships," he says.

Apprenticeships should be targeted only at those who are new to a job or role that requires sustained and substantial training, Richard recommends, while government funding should provide the right incentives with funding routed through the employer to ensure relevance and improve quality.