Britain to fund 'gap year' expeditions

LONDON, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- A British program to send 500 college graduates on expeditions is a waste of taxpayer money better spent on providing job skills, critics say.

The government has earmarked $829,000 this year for 500 graduates to spend their "gap year" after college on projects in remote foreign communities that usually cost about $5,000 per person, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

Supporters said participants develop skills that make them more employable on their return. Critics call it a waste of money and an attempt to massage unemployment figures.

"The government would be better off creating places in education, so young people can develop employable skills for when the economy picks up, instead of having to bribe people to go on gap years," Alan Smithers, a spokesman for the University of Buckingham, said.

To qualify, graduates must raise $1,600, pay for their own immunizations and flights, and prove they could not afford an overseas expedition without the government subsidy, the Telegraph reported.