The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, has sparked debate among netizens on social media after claiming people do not have to go to tertiary institutions to be successful in life.

“You don’t have to go to university to succeed in life,” the 44-year-old Conservative Party leader said in a post on his official X, formerly Twitter account on Wednesday, initiating various debates in the comment section of the post.

Mr Sunak’s position was a surprise to many people as he has achieved academic qualifications in some of the top universities in the world. 

He graduated with a first class bachelor’s degree after studying philosophy, politics and economics at Lincoln College, Oxford before earning a master’s degree from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar.

Reacting to the post, X user with the username @UltraTV90 called out Mr Sunak for discouraging education while calling him to leave his position as UK’s Prime Minister — “a whole PM discouraging education? Please leave DOWNING,” the user wrote.

“Nothing to see here, just the Prime Minister discouraging people from getting an education,” another user with the username @HOOTCHY commented.

Meanwhile, a user with the username @therealmissjo sided with Mr Sunak, saying “many people I know and have worked with did not go to university. Some of them are the most successful people I know. Financially as well as otherwise.”

Another person with the username EssexPR tagged Mr Sunak’s statement as “correct,” stating “some of my most successful friends worked way up, started at the bottom of companies. Others started their own firms in their twenties.”