my first introductory lecture at Uni many moons ago , we were told if we wanted to make a fortune to leave now!

Joseph trained as a plumber - that was his education - and now he has a successful plumbing business. I don't know how having a university education would help him in his plumbing business, even if he could have studied there. All that matters is that it is lucrative and he is good at it. Should uneducated people never have any opportunities to make a success of themselves in honest trade?

Vana was selling a concept that she couldn't prove would be successful. She can probably go into a number of high-flying professions as well as set up her app, so it's not as if her education has denied her opportunities just because she lost the Apprentice.

Having a university education doesn't make you better at business. Look at Sam, very cultured but utterly useless at anything practical. Vana's most useful asset was her linguistic ability, the result of her trilingual childhood (English, Spanish and Greek). Anyway she wasn't educated in Britain so her lack of success is not a sign of a problem here.

The emphasis is switching away from going to get a degree to doing an apprenticeship and learning a trade. Neither route is better than the other. As for MBAs most are worthless. An MBA is only as good as the business school you got it from.

BIB is absolutely true. Even in the financial industry where I work, we are now offering apprenticeships for those under 25 without a degree alongside the graduate programmes. And there really isn't a huge gulf in salaries either.
Fair enough if someone genuinely wants to go to uni for themselves but there are plenty of ways of getting onto a good career path without a degree these days without being saddled with the debt

I wonder if an unemployed person could go on the show, and actually get a way through the process

He didn't say it, just went ahead and did it.

There has been a candidate who was unemployed, can't remember who or where though.

What I found most shocking on this year's Apprentice was the state of Dr Leah on 'you're hired'. A naturally incredibly attractive woman who in the course of around two years has bloated her face horribly with non-invasive facial enhancements. I think it's a shame.

Wasn't jenny from this year a student? so technically not "employed" by anyone

all the 1sts there was this series

He said it about the same time he said 'I already agreed with my mate Bush that we're going to invade Iraq for its oil, so even though they pose no threat to us and it'll kill hundreds of thousands of them, and leave the country in a worse state than it was already in for decades, I've already got my job as Middle East Peace Envoy lined up so boo ya sucks'

I'm a graduate and many of the people I've known who are super successful (outside of the expected university routes such as finance, science and education) never went, they did college courses or went straight into business, and sheer ambition took them to the top. Devaluing a real university education by dumbing it down so you can charge people top whack and have them in debt to the usual banker mates-of-government for most of their 20s if not 30s is a huge social crime.

How would he make A Levels easier though?

He's a plumber - he just needs a grasp of some basic physics. and the ability to wield a large spanner.

Given Sugar avoids risk, has no knowledge of many fields , doesn't like people who start anything new to them , won't invest far from London, doesn't like shops, fitness clubs,or restaurants, doesn't want to invest much, does want a quick, big return, doesn't want to have to do much, and doesn't like people who have business degrees , or have passed interviews for large corporate firms - not many people can ever win.

But someone has to win - so a nationwide propsed plumbing concern - albeit with 5 plumbers working for it beats a computer application that requires vastly more money - and may never pay it back.

Sugar has a long record of not picking the most able people, or the ones who would make him most money, or need his help the most to make a good idea work.The most succesful Apprentices didn't win most years. And the new format has never had many good viable ideas he would even consider. Most top graduates are off to work for major, or breakthrough, companies, the media, banks or Governmen - or they have already made their business starts , or wouldn't wnat the risk of a TV show, or to work with him - and most would be too normal, or competent, to get selected.