Universities ‘central to the vision’ in skills plans

Office for Students director for fair access urges universities to bridge academic and vocational gaps

Universities “must be central to the vision” behind plans to improve access to further and higher technical education, according to one of the speakers at a higher education conference.

Chris Millward, director for fair access and participation at the Office for Students, said there was a “potential shift in the consensus that has governed policy towards increasing participation in higher education during the century to date”, with a new focus on “levelling up the opportunities for people who don’t go into higher education” taking a more central role.