Prince stresses skills shortage

The conference venue runs a pioneering apprentice scheme

The Prince of Wales says Britain's students are not being taught relevant practical skills.

Prince Charles was addressing a seminar on the future of traditional skills at Woodchester Mansion, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, on Monday.

He said many young people were leaving college without the "basic groundwork" in the subjects they were studying.

"I know through meeting lots of people from art school who are exhausted and fed up," he said.

"They are coming out with an education which is relevant but they haven't been given the real skills they need. The basic groundwork.

"I think there are probably too many courses that are not giving people the skills they need later in life and think that needs to be looked at."

The Prince was speaking to delegates from the fields of architecture, stonemasonry and heritage funding.

A report by the National Heritage Training Group warned earlier this year that the heritage industry needed to recruit 6,500 skilled craftsmen to restore and maintain Britain's historical treasures in the next year alone.