Oasis is dominating the headlines and a Labour prime minister uses his conference speech to set a target for the number of young people who should go to higher education. No, it is not 1999 but 2025.

The day before Keir Starmer set a new target of two-thirds of young people attending university or an apprenticeship, his warm-up act in Liverpool, education secretary Bridget Phillipson, announced the reintroduction of maintenance grants.

These are to be funded via the?much-maligned proposed levy on international student?fees, which has?led to accusations of ¡°robbing Peter to pay Paul¡±.

Bobby Duffy, professor of public policy and director of the Policy Institute at King¡¯s College London, said tying the international student levy to maintenance grants makes it very difficult for vice-chancellors, who have lobbied for their reintroduction, to argue against them.

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It could also?dispel any backbench opposition. But Duffy warned that the policy, which based a ¡°pot of money on a very variable market¡±, could become difficult to manage if international student numbers change.

Although?it looks politically clever to take an unpopular idea and put a popular spin on it, Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said the policy was a ¡°damp squib¡± and that universities will continue to oppose the levy even though they do want maintenance grants back.

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The list of which ¡°priority courses¡± will qualify for the grants will be vital, according to Justin Fisher, professor of political science at Brunel, University of London.

¡°We assume that it might be in technology sectors but, equally, it could be in sectors that attract sub-degree-level training, in which case I think that would cause a real problem for the sector.¡±

But Fisher said the linking of the two also means that the government will have a stronger commitment to keeping international student levels high.

¡°If you can put a positive spin on the impact of international students financially on domestic students, I think that heads off easy criticism that people like Reform have made about international students in the past.¡±

Speaking during the conference, skills minister Jacqui Smith said it was an ¡°important political statement¡± to make it clear to the public that international students were directly funding their domestic peers.

Starmer could also have been trying to head off criticism from Reform party leader Nigel Farage by announcing he wants two-thirds of young people to attend university, further education, or a ¡°gold standard apprenticeship¡± by the age of 25.

In doing so he ¡°scrapped¡± Tony Blair¡¯s target of 50 per cent of young adults going into higher education ¨C an aim that was achieved 20 years later ¨C and was never just about people going to university anyway.

Elizabeth Simon, a politics lecturer at the University of Exeter, said this could be an ¡°accommodation tactic¡± ¨C similar to those?that Labour has adopted recently related to immigration ¨C with the aim of shifting the party¡¯s position closer to that of Reform.

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Although?Reform UK lacks an education spokesperson, or much in the way of education policies, Farage and others have made it clear that the party will probably seek to prioritise the provision of vocational education.

¡°The idea that too many young people are going to university is likely well represented among many would-be Reform UK voters, and it may be that the Labour Party are trying to position themselves to pick up some of these votes,¡± said Simon.

¡°Although, in some ways, this stance would sit uncomfortably with their commitment to reintroduce maintenance grants for some university students by 2029.¡±

Fisher said the two-thirds target does not suggest a reduction in commitment to higher education and may lead to an expansion of the role of universities ¨C although not necessarily via traditional degree subjects.

¡°I think the mistake is to think of this as if they¡¯re talking about apprenticeships, they must be talking about removing work from universities. You could argue that it¡¯s up to universities to grasp this as much or as little as they want.¡±

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A focus on the links between higher and further education is set to form a key part of the coming post-16 skills White Paper, due to be published imminently.

However, Fisher said the danger was that it could lead to a ¡°recreation of the binary divide¡± between further and higher education ¨C comments echoed by health secretary Wes Streeting during an appearance on the News Agents podcast.

¡°Is there a risk that university once again becomes the middle-class route and apprenticeships become the working-class route? And that you have an inequality of parity and a lack of parity of esteem?¡± he asked.

Helen Hayes, Labour chair of the education select committee, warned during a fringe session that the UK education system is ¡°heavily weighted towards university¡± and is letting down a generation of young people. And?in his speech, Starmer said?he would never ¡°denigrate the aspiration to go to university¡± but that the way we measure success in education is ¡°not right for our times¡±.

Fisher said?Labour¡¯s new higher education policies?could be an example of a government ¡°talking right but acting left¡±.

¡°They look like they¡¯re bashing universities but in some respects, they¡¯re actually looking like they¡¯re going to be quite good towards them.

¡°It may lead to some shake-up in the sector but it seems to me that it¡¯s a more positive spin than has been given credit for. A little bit of bashing is a pain, but the opportunity is greater than the pain.¡±

And Duffy also encouraged universities not to read too much into the changes and avoid any ¡°knee-jerk reactions¡±.

Rather than being an overtly political move, he said the two-thirds target reflects the opinion of a public that wants to see ¡°more of a balance¡± between further and higher education ¨C but not necessarily a reduction in the number of people going to university.

¡°That¡¯s the way that the sector should be approaching this, making that case we¡¯re also a positive contributor to those additional levels around apprenticeships and more technical education.

¡°The main thing is it should be seen as opportunity to engage in something that is actually important to the skills agenda and growth for the country.¡±

Hannah Bunting, senior lecturer in quantitative British politics at Exeter, said many of Labour¡¯s core voters see education, including access to degree-level education, as a ¡°fundamental right¡±.

¡°But the party also has a coalition of voters who want to see the equality of prestige between careers that require a degree and those which are developed through apprenticeships, technical or vocational qualifications.¡±

Meanwhile, Bunting said Reform benefits from an anti-establishment narrative that undermines universities ¨C one that has helped the party climb to a 10-point lead in the polls and put Starmer¡¯s job security under serious threat.

As Liam Gallagher closed out Oasis¡¯ final night in Wembley, he drew wild cheers when he told fans he would ¡°see you next year¡±. Can the prime minister say the same?

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patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com