Society for Educational Studies Seminar Higher Education Students

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Society for Educational Studies
SeminarHigher Education Students Access over
the next ten years More of the Same? New
Learners from the WorkplaceAndrew
WardDirector of Corporate Relations
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• Annual Grant Letters
• engaging with business and widening access
• the first two of six strategic themes
  (Denham 21-01-09)
• employer-led provision and widening
  participation
• the two major priorities
  (Kelly 31-01-06)
• we need to develop radical approaches that can
  lead to
• much higher levels of access to higher education
  by older people
• already in the workplace
  (Johnston 11-01-07)

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• The Chief Executive of Hefce
• There is a clear link between employer
  engagement
• and one of our other key missions widening
• participation
• Professor David Eastwood, Conference of Northern
  Universities 220209
• University of Hertfordshire
• Committed to extend their widening
  participation
• strategy to engage proactively with employees who
• may not have had the opportunity to study at
  higher
• levels
• 2007-12 Strategic Plan

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• The Future
• John Denham
• An excellent higher education system would be
• world-beating in the way it maximises the
  benefits of
• its links with business and public services
• and it would be one where
• Universities would be developing our home-grown
• talent to the greatest extent through the high
  standard
• of their teaching and ability to reach all those
  who can
• benefit.
• The Wellcome Collection speech, February 2009

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• The Future
• Universities UK
• a continued, broad commitment to high levels of
• participation, even if there are successive
  changes of
• Government 2 132 p. 31
• and
• an increase in employer engagement 2 136 p.
  31
• are common assumptions underpinning each of the
  
• three scenarios
• Nigel Brown et al, The Future Size and Shape of
  the HE Sector in the UK Threats and
• Opportunities, Universities UK, July 2008

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• Aimhigher
• Lifelong Learning Networks

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• Hefce report
• All LLNs engage employers to varying degrees
• http//www.hefce.ac.uk/econsoc/employer/lln/

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• National Aimhigher Evaluation (2006)
• 92 HEIs
• 74 FECs
• undertook activities involving employers, Sector
  Skills Councils and Professional Bodies
• McCaig, C, Bowers-Brown, T, Stevens, A and
  Harvey, L, (2006),
• National Evaluation of Aimhigher Survey of
  Higher Education Institutions, Further
• Education Colleges and Work-based Learning
  Providers, HEFCE

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• So ...
• No problem!

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• National Aimhigher Evaluation (2006)
• However
• activities involving employers, Sector Skills
• Councils and Professional Bodies
• were often cited as being
• ineffective
• McCaig, C, Bowers-Brown, T, Stevens, A and
  Harvey, L, (2006),
• National Evaluation of Aimhigher Survey of
  Higher Education Institutions, Further
• Education Colleges and Work-based Learning
  Providers, HEFCE

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• Others agree
• Greater Manchester
• employer engagement with the activities of the
• partnership is low as this is hard to achieve
  (2006)
• Aimhigher South West
• as ever engagement with employers was
• the most challenging area (2003)

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• And other others agree too
• Stephen Uden, Head of Skills and Economic
  Affairs,
• Microsoft
• engagement between employers and providers will
• never be easy
• UfI Conference, 2006
• Lambert (2003) and Leitch (2006)

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• The way forward
• An alchemy!

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• The Challenge
• Radical changes
  
• (Kelly)
• Radical approaches
• (Johnston)
• Ambitious and ground-breaking plans
• (Denham)

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• Leitch The Central Propositions
• To ensure future prosperity Britain needs more
  people to have skills and qualifications
• The issue is not just that more people should be
  skilled but also that (a) they should have the
  right skills and (b) more people should be
  obtaining (the right) skills at higher levels
• Focusing on current and future school leavers is
  not in itself going to meet the countrys future
  skills needs
• (Three quarters of the 2020 workforce have
  already left compulsory education)
• We therefore need more people currently in the
  workforce to acquire higher level skills and the
  determination of these skills to be employer-led

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• Leitch
• Introduced a focus on skills into the national HE
  debate
• Drew a direct and explicit connection between
• qualifications, skills acquisition and improved
• productivity

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• Skills and Productivity
• Dr David Collins, President of Association of
  Colleges
• There are serious questions over whether that
  link between
• skills and profitability is as tight as Leitch
  would suggest.
• http//www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/
  cmselect/cmdius/48/08070903.htm
• July 2008
• HEPI
• The relationship between higher level
  qualifications and higher
• productivity is in fact complex and is not
  self-evident
• Tom Sastry and Bahram Bekhradnia, Higher
  Education, Skills and Employer Engagement,
• HEPI, May 2007, p.5

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• Qualifications
• BBC
• Qualifications tell employers that you have
• knowledge and skills they want, plus the
  energy
• and determination to stick at
  something and
• achieve results.
• http//www.bbbc.co.uk/wales/justthejob/skills/empl
  oyers.shtml

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• Qualifications
• There are qualifications and there are
• qualifications
• People 1st
• Too many qualifications do not deliver the
• skills industry need.
• http//www.sscalliance.org/SectorCouncils/people
  1st.asp?ssc18

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• Qualifications
• Its hard to ignore feedback from employers that
  some
• vocational subjects do not provide what they
  need.
• (Although, at a sector skills council meeting
  last week
• which pressed this point, it transpired only one
  person
• in the room was working in the subject for which
• university had apparently prepared them).
• John Denham Hefce Conference, April 2009
• http//www.dius.gov.uk/news_and_speeches/speeches/
  john_denham/hefce2.

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• Qualifications
• CBI
• We should be mindful that ultimately it is the
  skills of
• employees that matter to employers the
  practical reality
• of filling jobs with capable people. National
  targets in
• terms of accredited qualifications have their
  place, but they
• are an imperfect proxy for the achievement of the
  required
• skills.
• Richard Lambert, Foreword, Stepping higher
  Workforce development
• through employer-higher education partnership,
  CBI, 2008

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• Qualifications
• Microsoft
• People, especially in Government, tend to focus
• on qualifications, but it is really skills that
  bring
• economic advantage

Stephen Uden, Head of Skills and Economic
Affairs, Microsoft
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• Qualifications
• David Lammey (as Minister for Skills)
• Many employers already deliver excellent,
  in-house,
• training programmes that meet their needs, and
  equip
• their employees with a broad base of economically
• valuable and transferable skills.
• At present, however, much of this training does
  not
• count towards a recognised qualification.
• Speech to the Institute for Employment Studies -
  6-11-07

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• Qualifications
• David Lammey
• At present, however, much of this training does
  not
• count towards a recognised qualification.
• So what?

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• Qualifications
• One of the attractions of qualifications is that
• they enable us to measure and set targets.
• David Eastwood, July 2008
• http//www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/
  cmselect/cmdius/48/08070903.htm

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• Qualifications
• All of us in higher education know that for many
• learners the qualification does matter but for
• some others and for some other forms of
• engagement a CPD model, a more flexible
• model, is appropriate to their skills
• David Eastwood, July 2008
• http//www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/
  cmselect/cmdius/48/08070903.htm

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• Qualifications
• Two developments
• (a) Extending degree awarding powers (BPP etc)
• (b) Economic Challenge Investment Fund (ECIF)

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• Qualifications
• DirectGov
• What is higher education really like?
• Higher education means a lot more than just
  getting a qualification. It also offers you the
  chance to meet new people and take advantage of
  new opportunities.
• http//www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/U
  niversityAndHigherEducation/
• WhyGoToUniversityOrCollege/DG_073320

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• New Learners!

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We need to achieve Leitchs stretching ambitions
for world class skills by 2020 and interim set
targets for 2011 World Class Skills Agenda
DUIS
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• The Pool
• 6 million Level 3 Qualifications
• 12 million Few or no Qualifications

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• The Scale of the Challenge
• We need to embed the value of skills in our
• culture in a way it has never been before.
• (9 p. 7)
• Bringing about that change in culture, attitudes
• and behaviour will not be easy.
• (10 p. 7)
• Leitch Review of Skills, Final Report,
  Prosperity for all
• in the global economy - world class skills,
  December 2006
• http//www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/leitch_finalreport
  051206.pdf

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• The Scale of the Challenge
• The UK needs to foster greater and more sustained
• engagement between universities, colleges and
• employers in training, skill development and
• innovation. This implies a culture change within
  HE.
• (3.55 p. 50)
• Leitch Review of Skills, Final Report,
  Prosperity for all
• in the global economy - world class skills,
  December 2006
• http//www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/leitch_finalreport
  051206.pdf

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• In short
• We need to
• change HE
• and
• change our culture

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• Why does Higher Education need new learners?
• UK plc
• Social Justice
• There will be a shortage of the traditional kind

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• New Learners
• Recruiting new learners is
• simply good for your business
• the number of older teenagers is set to
  decline
• So universities and colleges will need to widen
  and deepen participation in traditional and novel
  ways, and develop a model that attracts a greater
  proportion of older students, many of them
  already in the workforce.
• http//www.derby.ac.uk/files/1_david_eastwood_spee
  ch.pdf

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• Foundation Degrees
• Can we take Foundation Degree students as a
  proxy for the new learners?

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• Foundation Degrees
• How many Foundation Degree students are there?
• Target 100,000 2010
• Actual 87,339 2008/09
• Actual 71,999 2007/08

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• Foundation Degrees

There are over 1,700 Foundation Degrees courses
running, with a further 900 planned http//www.di
rect.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/Qualifications
Explained/DG_10039022
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• Foundation Degrees
• 56 Full Time

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• Foundation Degrees
• Entrants Students
  Qualifying
• 2001/02 3,995 4,320
• 2002/03 8,900 12,310
• 2003/04 14,945 23,945
  3,135
• 2004/05 22,110 37,820
  6,175
• 2005/06 26,665 46,780
  9,275
• 2006/07 33,930 60,580
  11,633
• 2007/08 40,445 71,915
  14,975
• htttp//www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/pressOffic/sfr130/sfr13
  0r_table5.pdf
• http//www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2007/07_03/

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• Foundation Degrees Review Comparative Figures
• (2004-05) FD HND UG
• No previous HE experience 68 68 63
• BAME backgrounds 16 27
  20
• White
  84 73 80
• NS-SEC Classes 4-7
  38 43 28
• Hefce, Foundation degrees Key Statistics
  2001-02 to 2006-07 and Annex A
  Reconciliation of
• aggregate and individual data, January 2007
  http//www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/hefce/2007/07_03/

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• We all know that the HE sector has grown in
  recent years
• ... or do we?

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• Comparing 2006/07 with 2007/08
• No growth in total HE enrolments between 2006/07
  and 2007/08
• UK enrolments for all modes fell by 1
• UK Undergraduate Part Time enrolments fell by 3
• Full and Part time Postgraduate UK enrolments
  fell by 3

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• Comparing 2003/04 with 2007/08
• Total HE enrolments grew by 4.9
• UK enrolments grew by 1.3
• Full time UK enrolments grew by 5.9
• Part time Undergraduate UK enrolments fell by
  4.0
• Full and Part time Postgraduate UK enrolments
  fell by 1.7
• Rather than other EU or non-EU international
  students
• http//www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/pressOffice/sfr130/sfr13
  0r_table1.pdf

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• Comparing 2003/04 with 2007/08
• Other EU and Non-EU enrolments grew by 20
• Other EU Full time Undergraduate grew by 30
• Non-EU Full time Undergraduate enrolments grew by
  10
• Full/Part time Postgraduate Other EU enrolments
  grew by 45
• Full/Part time Postgraduate Non EU enrolments
  grew by 10
• http//www.hesa.ac.uk/dox/pressOffice/sfr130/sfr13
  0r_table1.pdf

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• The Market
• 72 reported that they do not use HE. Of these -
  
• 24 lack information about what Universities
  offer
• 23 dont know who to contact
• 21 tried but found the university
  unwilling/unhelpful
• 21 university training offer inappropriate for
  business
• 42 havent seen a need for HE services
• Stepping higher - Workforce development through
  employer-higher
• Education partnership, CBI, 2008, 26 p. 45 22
  p.44

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• The Market
• Grant Thornton survey of 500 businesses in
  London
• London market for Higher Level Skills c. 2.3
  billion in 2008
• Total skills (HLS and non-HLS) market c. 5.9
  billion
• (c. 1,500 per employee)
• External providers 350 million
• HEIs c. 18-35m
• Highly Skilled London - Research Report 1 The
  demand for higher levels
• skills by London Employers, London Higher
  London First LSN, 28 May 2008 p. 12

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• About the New Learners
• Given that 40 of HE students study on a Part
  Time basis, how new are these learners?
• Conceptually different from the digital natives
  who are the
• new learners in Australia, NZ and the US
• In work
• Modification of the market model
• New approaches relevant, flexible and
  responsive provision
• that meets the high skill needs of employers and
  their staff
• Tautologically new

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• The gap between rhetoric and reality?
• Employer Engagement
• 5 - 2009/10 (HEIF and EE SDF)
• Foundation Degrees
• 72,000 out of 2.6m
• Co-Funded Provision
• 5,000 places
• Widening Participation
• 216m out of 8bn
• HE in FE Colleges
• 185m out of 4.75bn

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• Dichotomies and Continua
• Universities Higher Education
• Smaller university system Larger
  higher education sector
• International/National
  Regional/Local
• Academic-Led Employer-Led
• Market Model Planned Model
• Single Multiple
  (Validation powers)
• Battenberg Cake
  Blackpool Rock (Employability skills)
• University education New approaches to HE
• Premiums Price sensitivity
• Students New Learners

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• What are we talking about?
• An Americanised system
• Entrenching (or remaking) social distinctions

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• A consensus?
• Inequality is not just a problem because it is
  hurting our
• economic performance, but because it is unjust.
  And while
• improving skills levels and education may help
  our economic
• competitiveness, it will not necessarily address
  the issue of
• inequality. If we want social goods such as
  greater social
• mobility, better childcare or improved
  environmental
• sustainability, we may have to decide to pursue
  them as social
• goods, even if they dont improve our economic
• competitiveness.
• J.Knell et al, Confronting the Skills Paradox,
  Demos, January 2007
• http//www.demos.co.uk/files/Demos_provocation_pap
  er_confronting_the_skills_paradox.pdf?
• 1240939425

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