In 1999, when the then PM Tony Blair announced he wanted 50 per cent of the country to go to university, it was a very different world. There were no smartphones, no social media, a booming global economy (the UK economy grew 0-9 per cent in the third quarter of 1999); the jobs section of newspapers was a well-used source of information both for prospective candidates and people hiring and there was a genuine sense that university was the most successful and tested path to an interesting career with prospects.

Twenty-five years later and the world is a different place, and Keir Starmer’s recognition of this felt apt when he set a new target of two-thirds going to university or further education or “joining a gold standard apprenticeship.”

This prominence given to skills and training linked jobs was an enormous and welcome boon to a sector that has been traditionally been treated as the bridesmaid to university’s bride. It is also a reflection of a rapidly changing professional world.

I encounter thousands of young people who feel let down by the (very expensive) promise of a university degree that has not only failed to deliver a promising career, but even a foot in the door, parents anger that their child’s degree was a costly mistake and employers from a multitude of industries who plainly state many university courses are not teaching the skills to make young people work-ready.

Otis, 22, studied Computer Science at Loughborough University and attained a first-class degree, and his experience will resonate with tens of thousands: “I was so happy when I got a first and thought, this is it, I’m going to be knocked d