A recent survey by the Forum of Private Business has found that small businesses value school and college leavers above university graduates.

The figures revealed that 77.4 percent of small business owners do not require university level employee’s, while 35.5 percent of the 1,500 surveyed said they’d rather employ someone with technical and craft skills which are not taught at universities.

Phil Orford, chief executive of the FPB, says: “There is a clear gap between what businesses need and what businesses get when it comes to the ability of the education system to produce viable employees for small businesses.”

Just seven percent of those surveyed believe the government’s skills policy offers value for money. However, one member of the FPB, Elisabeth Wirrer, welcome’s the government’s modern apprenticeships as an alternative to taught courses.

She says: “When people come and ask me how they get into the industry, I tell them to go and get a job first, and then do a course from that.”

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