A new qualification offering young people an alternative route to university without debt will be launched in Greater Manchester in September next year, the Mayor has confirmed.
Andy Burnham said the Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc) will be a new option for students with the opportunity to gain a degree-level education in a technical field with a path into work.
Details for the new qualification were shared by the Mayor during the launch of a separate 10-year strategy to reduce violence among young people in the region. The Mayor claimed if he is re-elected for another term in office, it will be his “single top priority” and that he will be “as obsessed” with integrating technical education as he is about buses.
The move comes after Greater Manchester agreed with the Government that at the next spending review in Whitehall the region will move to an approach similar to Wales or Scotland, where funding will come as block rather than being tied up in different pots.
Mr Burnham said: “We are now going to be able as a city region to shape post-16 technical education. What I want to do is create two clear equal paths for all young people growing up in Greater Manchester.
“That will lead people towards gateways into the Greater Manchester economy at 16. I tried to find a job here 30 years ago and couldn’t, and had to leave as many in my generation did.
“Kids here haven’t got a path to those skycrapers yet in the city centre, they don’t know how to get through the door, they can’t understand precisely what the job opportunity is that might be there. This is what the MBacc is going to fix.”
He added that it could become a “superior path” to university and allow young people to study without burdening themselves with debt.
As part of a new plan to tackle violence among young people in the region, the Mayor said there will be a focus on community prevention to people from going down a path of crime.
The Greater Manchester Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) aims to identity the people most at risk of violence and set up a referral system to start offering personalised help. It is made up of a team of people from different organisations including GMP and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
Colin McFarlane, Greater Manchester Police Assistant Chief Constable, said: “We now have more numbers of police officers, staff, community support officers than we’ve had in a decade. We’ve had a massive increase in our resources, a lot of recruitment, and that gives us an opportunity to use those officers to the good of the public.”
The Mayor added: “We do need to make use of stop and search. I know that’s a difficult subject, but there’s no point in hiding away from it. If more weapons are on the street, more weapons will need to be apprehended.”
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