Hamish Ogston’s donation will fund up to 2,700 apprenticeships in crafts to preserve historic buildings
A British philanthropist has given almost £29m to heritage skills training, breathing new life into dying crafts and addressing the chronic shortage of specialists who can prevent historic buildings from deteriorating beyond repair.
Hamish Ogston’s donation, which has been made through his charitable foundation, will be announced on Thursday.
Continue reading...Heritage and property groups outline plan to boost energy efficiency at historical sites to create jobs, cut emissions and meet net-zero targets
Retrofitting the UK’s historicsl buildings, from Georgian townhouses to the mills and factories that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, could generate £35bn of economic output a year, create jobs and play a crucial role in achieving climate targets, research has found.
Improving the energy efficiency of historical properties – those built before 1919 – could reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s buildings by 5% each year and make older homes warmer and cheaper to run, according to a report commissioned by the National Trust, Historic England and leading property organisations.
Continue reading...Social Mobility Commission says students should be informed of ‘earnings implications’ of course choices
Students should be given more details about how the courses they study after leaving school might affect their employment prospects, it has been suggested, as figures show near-record numbers of 18-year-olds applying to university.
A review of research into the employment effects of higher and further education by the government’s Social Mobility Commission showed wide variations in earnings, with some courses failing to boost salaries, while the most lucrative courses for graduates often admitted few students in England from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Continue reading...Multiverse, founded by son of former PM, is first apprenticeship provider allowed to award degrees
Tony Blair was the prime minister who met his aim of enrolling more than half of all young people in university by this century. Now his son is pioneering a way of awarding degrees with no need for a university at all.
Euan Blair’s company, Multiverse, has become the first apprenticeship provider granted a licence to award degrees on the job.
Continue reading...UK surveillance agency says it has long valued neuro-diverse analysts – including Alan Turing
Apprentices on GCHQ’s scheme are four times more likely to have dyslexia than those on other organisations’ programmes, the agency has said, the result of a drive to recruit those whose brains process information differently.
GCHQ says those with dyslexia have valuable skills spotting patterns that others miss – a key area the spy agency wants to encourage as it pivots away from dead letter drops and bugging towards high-tech cybersecurity and data analysis.
Continue reading...Labor criticises government for hiring The Block star, claiming it’s cut $3bn from vocational education since coming to office
Labor has blasted Michaelia Cash for refusing to say how much taxpayers are paying The Block star Scott Cam to promote vocational education in his new role as “national careers ambassador”.
At a press conference on Thursday the skills and employment minister said Cam’s pay for the 15-month role was “commercial in confidence” but suggested spending was “about outcomes” and reflected the fact the government had secured “one of the highest profile people in Australia”.
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