Universities will have a new duty to prepare students for the world of work, whatever subject they are studying, by teaching them “employability skills” and finding them paid employment on campus or with local businesses.

Far-reaching government plans to forge stronger links between higher education and industry will also require employers to play their part by subsidising fees for 20,000 undergraduates studying for work-related degrees.

Businesses will be expected to work with universities to design new vocational degree courses, as part of a drive to increase the proportion of workers with degree level skills from 31 to 40 per cent by 2020.

Bill Rammell, the universities minister, said that the UK desperately needed to raise its overall skills levels in order to compete in the global economy, but that this could not be achieved solely through government funding. Businesses would also have to play their part.

He envisages groups of local employers teaming up with groups of universities to share the costs of designing and funding vocational degree courses.

“Education for its own sake is important, but anyone who has spoken to any employer knows that what they really want is people with leadership, critical thinking and problem-solving skills,” he told The Times.

“There is a common interest between students and employers here because we know that students have concerns about the extent to which their courses increase their employability.”

Mr Rammell added that the government had earmarked £105 million over the next three years to provide at least 20,000 university places jointly funded with employers.

A consultation document on the proposed reforms entitled Higher Education at Work will be open for comments until 7 July. It calls for universities to work with local employers to ensure that students are offered “internships, shadowing schemes and sandwich courses”.

It adds: “We want to encourage universities to adopt the approach, typical in America, of helping students to find part-time jobs on the campus itself as well as with local employers. We want to see all universities treating student employability as a core part of their mission.”

For language students, it suggests work placements abroad. It also calls for suggestions on how to increase the numbers of students studying science, technology, engineering and maths.

Another idea is for more compressed degrees, spread over two years with longer terms rather the traditional three years, in order to appeal to those already in the workforce who may find it hard to take three years out of work.

But lecturers warned against giving businesses too much influence over the content and design of university courses.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “The most effective way for universities to contribute to our society and economy is by allowing them to retain their principle missions as places of research and scholarship.

“Affording the private sector a major say in the curriculum today will mean less innovation and invention for tomorrow as university staff are forced to prioritise policy that focuses purely on the numbers game.”

David Willetts, the Shadow universities secretary, said the consultation document showed the government had run out of ideas on how to increase university participation.

“Ministers have made virtually no progress on their promise of getting more young people to university,” he said.

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