Wales has a real opportunity to reshape how we think about skills, progression and economic growth. As we build a more joined‑up tertiary system, we must ensure that enterprise and opportunity are embedded at every stage.
Too often, the skills conversation is framed around qualifications, employer demand and sector shortages. Those are all important, but they are not the whole picture. Tertiary education also has a responsibility to help people recognise that enterprise, self-employment and business creation are all valuable routes into the economy.
Enterprise should be a golden thread running through the entire tertiary system. From schools to colleges, apprenticeships and universities, every learner should be able to see not just a pathway into employment, but have the confidence and capability to build something of their own.
For Wales, that could be a much bigger part of the answer than we sometimes acknowledge. We are a nation of small businesses, and many of those businesses are micro-businesses. You do not necessarily need an A level or a degree to have a good idea, build a company or create jobs in your community. In some fields, a high academic route will be essential, but in many others the opportunity starts with confidence, practical support and the ability to see yourself as someone who can build something.
At Cardiff and Vale College, our role is to serve learners of all ages, but also to work closely with the businesses and sectors that shape the economy around them. We work with thousands of employers, and the majority are SMEs. That is why I am always cautious when I hear it suggested that education only speaks to large employers. In practice, the relationship between further education and the SME community is active, practical and often very local.
The introduction of Medr and the Tertiary Education and Research Act gives Wales a unique opportunity to take this further. For the first time, we have the framework to bring together schools, colleges, apprenticeship providers and universities into a genuinely joined-up system. This is an opportunity to align around a shared goal and work together to ensure that no learner falls through the gaps, and that pathways into employment, enterprise and progression are clear, coherent and connected.
That shared responsibility feels particularly urgent when we look at young people who are not in education, employment or training. Latest figures show 56,800 young people in Wales are NEET. This is equivalent to the population of Barry.
Encouragingly, we know that disengagement is not random. It is predictable, and that means it is preventable. By acting earlier, providing clearer pathways and designing more inclusive routes, we can support young people to stay connected and progress.
Enterprise has a critical role to play in this. It should not sit on the margins of education but be embedded across it. For some learners, particularly those who do not immediately see themselves in traditional academic pathways, enterprise can be the route that re-engages them, providing purpose, independence and a direct connection to their communities.
We need to make opportunities more visible and accessible. That includes access to further education, apprenticeships, higher education and the ability to start a business. We need young people to believe there is opportunity in Wales, and then we need a system that helps them reach it.
Enterprise should be a stronger golden thread through tertiary education. In areas such as construction and the trades, for example, the conversation should not stop at whether someone can become a bricklayer on a site. It should also include whether they could one day run their own business, employ local people and contribute to building Wales in the most practical sense.
The same applies in emerging areas where AI is changing the skills and knowledge people need to create a business. Young people are often well placed to move quickly, try ideas and take risks before they have the responsibilities that can make those decisions harder later in life. We should be giving them a better toolbox to do that.
That means thinking about business start-up support, funding mechanisms and how enterprise connects with the wider economic development landscape. When we talk about a renewed national development agency, inward investment or indigenous business growth, the business plan cannot just be about finance. It has to include the people who will make that growth possible.
Apprenticeships also show why stability is so important. They link to Jobs Growth Wales Plus, to further education, to employers and to young people who need a clear route forward. They should be flexible, agile and responsive, but they also need sustained investment and a commissioning model that supports an all-age, cross-sector approach.
This is where long-term planning becomes essential. Politics tends to operate in four or five-year cycles, but education and industry have to think in decades. The learners in our system today will be part of the Welsh economy for the next 40 years. The decisions we make now should reflect that scale of responsibility.
With a new Government now in place, we have the opportunity to work together to get this right. For the individual, it will mean improving life chances, confidence, health and wellbeing. For the economy, it affects productivity, business growth and Wales’ ability to compete for investment. Companies do not choose Wales by accident. They choose places where they believe talent, infrastructure and support can help them grow.
Our aim should be simple: guarantee visible, credible opportunities for young people and adults, whether that means further study, an apprenticeship, a new career or the confidence to start a business.
By embedding enterprise, strengthening collaboration and delivering a truly joined-up tertiary system, Wales has a real opportunity to turn skills into opportunity and therefore long-term prosperity for all.
