ROBBIE DINWOODIE Chief Scottish Political Correspondent robbie.dinwoodie@theherald.co.uk AMBITIOUS targets for Scotland to accelerate away from the rest of the UK in educational attainment, with half the population at degree level by 2020, were set yesterday.

ROBBIE DINWOODIE Chief Scottish Political Correspondent robbie.dinwoodie@theherald.co.uk AMBITIOUS targets for Scotland to accelerate away from the rest of the UK in educational attainment, with half the population at degree level by 2020, were set yesterday.

Both Chancellor Gordon Brown and First Minister Jack McConnell pledged themselves to a programme which will have 50% of Scots achieve a degree or equivalent by 2020, compared with a 40% target south of the border.

The First Minister also plans to merge the 8000 youngsters on the Skill Seekers programme, the remnants of the old Youth Training Scheme, into the modern apprenticeship programme and boost that by another 8000 places to reach 50,000 a year by 2011.

Combining that with the extension of "advanced" modern apprenticeships should provide a bridge to degree-equivalent education for those who go through the 100 proposed skills academies.

"This will raise the ambitions of Scots and help the country remain competitive," said Mr McConnell, introducing the Chancellor at a Labour Party event in Edinburgh yesterday attended by representatives from business and higher education.

Labour will also set the goal of 90% being educated to the level of five or more standard grades by the same date.

"In years to come, it will seem bizarre we allowed young people, often those who have not made the best of their education, to leave school with nothing to do," said the Chancellor. "Now we must make sure no-one leaves school at 16 unless they have a job, training or further education to go to."

Mr Brown also set out plans for an agreement to be signed between Labour at Westminster and at Holyrood, with regular meetings to co-operate on whether skills and employment targets are being met.

Westminster, through the Department of Work and Pensions, will contribute to helping the onslaught on "Neets" - those not in education, employment or training.

Unlike previous speeches, denouncing the SNP head-on by painting a dire warning of what would happen if Scotland left the UK, Mr Brown made a more oblique case, much as was done by Tony Blair in Glasgow last Friday.

"Scotland must build and cement, not jeopardise, the economic stability that is the foundation for any country's success in the global econ-omy," he said.

The Chancellor will be in St Andrews today to open the £34.7m David Russell Apartments, the largest construction project undertaken by the university and regarded as one of the most ambitious residential developments ever under-taken by a UK university.