Title: Higher Education in Further Education, and the higher vocational education conundrum
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Transcript of Title: Higher Education in Further Education, and the higher vocational education conundrum
Title of the slideSecond line of the slide
Title: Higher Education in Further Education, and the higher vocational education conundrum
Presentation by: Nick Davy, National HE Policy Manager
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideHigher Education
Question?
Is it appropriate and efficient for the state to subsidise mainly young people from middle/higher income backgrounds for ¾ years to study literature and poetry?
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideThe Spending review outcome
The imperative“The issue is how the higher
education sector makes its contribution to deficit reduction”
Vince Cable statement to Parliament 12 Oct 2011
The budget to 2015HEFCE T- grants cut (£5 bil to < £2
bil)Student loans rise (£3 bil to £7 bil)Govt capitalises its expenditureBIS total spending on HE risesUniversity income up an estimated
10%
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideHEFCE
Old regimeSame funding
ratesSimpler rules
New regimeDifferential priceMedicine £10,000STEM £1,500New C1 Price
Group - ITW/participationStudent NumberControl
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideThe HE Market: Students at the Heart of the system?
The New HE Market – Dynamism and Efficiency?
Market Characteristics:• Price - loosened, but controlled. Loans not Price• Entry- yes, but limited; Exit – unlikely• Profit maximisers?• Competition – mainly within a differentiated
market; heritage; continuing ‘cold spots’? More demand than supply
• Information – PI/KIS• Technology – Productivity – Blend/Flex/ICT? Regulator - HEFCE
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideMovements since the White Paper
Movements since the White Paper? HEFCE from Regulator to Overseer (BIS
Response to WP/TC) Marketisation to Liberalisation?
Places for High Achieving Students likely to grow (tariff)
Limited Growth for Lower Price Courses (margin)
Private Sector – unregulated until at least 2013 Possible problems with Access – Adult Level 3
Loans Evidence: decrease in part time applications Diversity – new entrants
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideThe Problem?
England’s economic/training problems:• Low level skills (Leach)
– Low skills equilibrium (Low skills work low aspirations)• Lack of intermediate skills (UKCES)But:• All the financial incentives – 3 Years Bachelors
degrees• Poor progression ‘structures’ from vocational
Q to HEFCE funded HE (L3Voc Q – 50%; A Levels – 90%; AA – 13%, including NPHE)
• Separate sectors – secondary, FE, HE• Under-used – Accreditation of Learning• Lack of diversity – 3 year degree part or
fulltime fits all
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideAccess/WP still a major problem
Participation rates of disadvantaged young people (Q1 and Q2) in entry tariff institution groups (OFFA)
Title of the slideSecond line of the slide
Higher Vocational Education and the House of Lords: A comparative case study
Weakness of (Higher) Technical Education:• Samuelson (1884) – weakness of technical education• Industrial Training Act 1964 – establishment of
industry training boards• Employment and Training Act 1973 – the establishment
of the Manpower Services Commission• Weiner – the anti-technical education English culture
(1981); • the ‘low skills equilibrium’ argued by Finegold and
Soskice in 1988 • Dearing (1997) – foundation degree development• UKCES (2011 2012) • The Skills Commission (2011)
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideHigher level technical skills: supply and demand issues
The Evidence:Supply - Structure/Systems: “Our study has shown that there is no
clear or simple vocational ‘ladder’ of progression to higher levels”[Connor H and Little (2005) Vocational ladders or crazy paving? Making your
way to higher levels London LSDA; revisited in 2009 – same conclusions]
UKCES has found that “19% of employers reported skills gaps in 2009 and that the highest number of skills shortage’s are accounted for in Associate Professional and Technical Occupations”
[UKCES, The UK Employment and Skills Almanac 2010: Evidence Report 26, 2011, p. 116]
“we are currently weak in the vital intermediate technical skills that are increasingly important as jobs become more highly skilled and technological change accelerates”
[DBIS, Skills For Sustainable Growth, 2010, p. 4]
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideCreating a more diverse HE system; supply/funding decides demand?
HEFCE Paper (Diversity: Opportunities and Challenges 2010/11): The major problem of creating diversity is a cultural one – the popularity of the 3 year residential Degree.
Some Potential: (a) Part-time (b) FEC HE (c) Accelerated/Intensive – but probably lack of demand.
But – Is it not a funding issue? Funding drives institutional behaviour and therefore demand behaviour?
• 30% of the £2.1bn spent on adult FE student funding is allocated to full-time students. (0.67 million students)
• A rough estimate is that over 90% of the £10.3bn spent on HE student funding is allocated to full-time students (1.1 million students)
[Corney/Fletcher (2007) : Adult Skills and HE: Separation or union?]
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideCollege based HE
Claims - HE in FE:• Deliver distinctive higher vocational education
[not entirely supported by Parry/Scott]• Short cycle HE; sub degree – HNC/D; FD;
NPHE-professional/higher vocational• Complementary to HEI suuply [supported by
Parry/Scott]• Local – lower living costs[supported by
Parry/Scott]• Access/WP – Localism [supported by Parry/Scott]• Local Regeneration – inward investment; skills;
close to employers [Evidence?]
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideNew?
? “ taking courses below advanced level and studying part-time. If too many of these colleges were removed from their intimate connection with local industry and commerce there might well be a serious risk that the nation's needs for technicians and skilled manpower generally would be increasingly neglected. The close local relationships that these colleges have done so much to foster must be preserved. Moreover, if the colleges as a whole ceased to be administered by local government there is some risk that the links with school education - which are essential if technical education is to provide an alternative ladder of higher education for boys and girls who are unable to follow, or are unsuited to, a sixth form and university course - will also be weakened”
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideSome encouraging movements: Supply
Where structures/ladders (supply) exists demand influenced?
Some contemporary data* on progression from Advanced Apprenticeships:
• From AA to HEFCE funded + NPHE [2/3 years after completion] – 13%– Accountancy – 50%– Engineering – 21%– Business administration – 19%– Health and Care – 25%– Children’s Care – 19%• Figures also available for L3 Q progression by
county/region
*Smith S and Joslin H (2011) Apprentice Progression Tracking Project. Centre for WBL. University of Greenwich
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideSome practical measures
Continue to support the expansion of cost-effective HE at non-research providers. (this will allow growth in numbers)
Re-examine support for part time HE Build on the apprenticeships pyramid for HA in appropriate
vocational areas. Address issues with HA – funding, transferability/portability
Develop a CATS for applied/vocational HE; clear progression pathways
Promote QCF at higher levels Support the credit of quality in-house company/charity
training schemes Create and promote robust APL schemes Integrate and promote NPHE – Loans? Allow student numbers quota transfer Ensure prestigious Universities meet WP targets
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideThe Medium Term
Some Ideas – and this is the medium term? Create a system of tertiary education not a sector-
Permeability between secondary/further/higher – A tertiary system: collaboration and competition
Colleges – key: sponsorship/links of academies/UTC; supply to HE; apprenticeships at all levels; HE
Use Loans and funding to support a diversity of HE deliveryand
Need for a cultural shift – long-term – Political leadership Promotion of the importance/status of the
applied/practical Apprenticeships/Higher apprenticeships Involvement of the professions – social mobility One Planning and Funding Body/Greater integration?
Title of the slideSecond line of the slideQuestions
Thank You
Questions and Discussion