Boris Johnson visits Exeter College

September 29, 2020 - The then Prime Minister Boris Johnson paid a visit tis Exeter College to launch the government's new Lifetime Skills Guarantee, to help people train and retrain– at any stage in their lives

He told an audience of guests: "There are many reasons to – for me I should say – to come here to Exeter College – the outstanding Further Education College in Devon.

"You have a total of 462 courses – some which I tried this morning – from particle physics to cake decorating.

"And you offer your students an extraordinary chance to skill themselves in everything from football coaching to specialist Devon cookery, industrial robotics, heavy vehicle manufacture and design.

"And I am thrilled that you offer philosophy, and languages, and even classical civilisation – but this is the home of the practical, the hands-on, disciplines that are not only academically and intellectually challenging but which are also of immediate practical usefulness and relevance to the world we live in.

"And I don’t just mean useful for individual jobs and livelihoods.

"All of us in this country need you to have those practical skills – we need those practical skills collectively, as a society and as an economy - more than ever."