HE in FE Briefing December 2011

Welcome to the December HE in FE Briefing

Our aim is to provide an informative term-time briefing for colleagues engaged in the management and delivery of higher education in further education colleges as well as other stakeholders. We also hope to draw your attention to sector events of national and local interest.

We warmly welcome your contribution of any news or events for future issues which you wish to promote or any examples of success, good practice or resources which you would like to share with others in our sector.

Deadline for copy: last Friday of month prior to the month of publication. We usually aim to circulate the briefing in the second week of the month.

Please send details to: heinfe@heacademy.ac.uk

Please post this briefing on your internal mail system for colleagues to share

Sector News

Figures for November show decline in 2012 undergraduate applicants to HE

Figures up to 21 November for 2012 applications by English domiciles to English institutions show a drop of 15.2% on the previous year, and applications across the board September to November show a decrease of 12.9% for the same period last year. The largest regional falls were seen in the North East, South West and East Midlands. Figures for the over 19 age range show a decline of approximately 18%.

Elsewhere in the UK, applications from students in Wales have fallen by 10%, Scotland by 17.1% and Northern Ireland, 16.9%.

Commenting on the undergraduate applicant statistics released on Monday 28 November, UCAS Chief Executive Mary Curnock Cook said: "Recent changes in HE funding mean that application patterns this year may be different to previous years and we are gearing up for a possible late surge close to the 15 January deadline where applicants have taken more time to research their applications. We expect some depression of demand due to a decline in the young population but it is much too early to predict any effects from changes in tuition fees."

Tables providing a full breakdown of applications to date are available on the UCAS website.

OFFA announces decisions on revised 2012-13 access agreements

Revised access agreements for 2012-13 were approved for 25 English universities and colleges (24 higher education institutions and one further education college) to bring them within the criteria to bid for student number places from the ‘margin’, the Office for Fair Access announced on 2 December, 2011. OFFA has also approved new access agreements for ten further education colleges (FECs) that now plan to charge more than £6,000 for some directly-funded places.

Most universities and colleges have not revised their 2012-13 access agreement and have therefore not changed their fees or financial support packages. Those universities and colleges that have revised their access agreement were required to inform affected applicants by Dec ember 7th in order that those disappointed with the changes could decide whether to apply elsewhere before the UCAS deadline of 15 January.

Read the full statement on the OFFA website.

Updated access agreement data tables for 2012-13 (December 2012)

This OFFA (2011/06) document gives updated information on approved access agreements for 2012-13 as of 2 December 2011.

Tables include full listings of:

• Access agreement income and expenditure at sector level.
• Fee levels and expenditure on access measures (Access agreements and Government National Scholarship Programme allocation)
• Access agreement expenditure in 2015-16, by institution
• Fee levels in 2012-13, by institution

25 institutions have revised access agreements, and ten FECs have had new access agreements approved, to bring them within the criteria for bidding for a share of the 20,000 places created under the new ‘core and margin’ system.

Download or read the report in full on the OFFA website.

Deadline reminder - access agreements or wp strategic assessments

The deadline for all institutions with access agreements or widening participation strategic assessments to submit a monitoring return to OFFA (HEFCE 2011/32) is 12 January 2012

For full details see the OFFA website.

New Challenges, New Chances

The Government’s response to the sector wide consultation New Challenges, New Chances “Further Education and Skills System Reform Plan: Building a World Class Skills System”, sets out reforms that will make further education providers more responsive to the needs of local employers in delivering apprenticeships and other training.

These include:

• A simplified FE funding system.
• Freedoms and flexibility for colleges and providers.
• The National Careers Service.
• Improving adult literacy and numeracy.
• Global FE.
• Excellence in teaching and reforming FE sector governance.

The paper can be downloaded in (.pdf) format (3.7Mb) from the BIS website.

Read the complete article on the Central Office of Information website.

19,000 new higher apprenticeships to deliver skills for growth

Business Secretary Vince Cable has announced details of how Government funding will support thousands of apprenticeships up to degree equivalent, enabling employers, colleges and universities to deliver the advanced skills most critical for growth.

£18.7m from the Higher Apprenticeship Fund will support the development of 19,000 new Higher Apprenticeships in sectors including construction, advanced engineering, insurance and financial services. Around 250 employers, including Leyland Trucks, Unilever, TNT, and Burberry will benefit from world class, nationally accredited technical training delivered in the workplace.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “Investing in skills is central to our drive to boost business and productivity and make the UK more competitive”.

“By radically expanding the number of degree level apprenticeships for young people, we will put practical learning on a level footing with academic study. This is an essential step that will help rebalance our economy and build a society in which opportunity and reward are fairly and productively distributed.”

The full announcement, including a list of higher education projects to be supported by the Higher Apprenticeship Fund following a competitive bidding process to identify the most innovative proposals to meet employer’s skills requirements, can be read on the Central Office of Information website.

Access Summit conference presentations

An archive of video presentations of the Access to HE Summit held on 28th November 2011 is available to view at the Action on Access website.

Introducing EBTA – a QAA podcast

QAA has recently taken on the employer-based training accreditation service (EBTA), which facilitates partnerships between higher education providers and employers, enabling the accreditation of higher education levels of training. This podcast covers the work of EBTA and what it means for universities and employers. Download it from the QAA website.

HEA News

HEA subscription and change programmes

With the tremendous changes taking place and about to take place in UK higher education provision it might be worth considering becoming an institutional subscriber to the Academy and engaging with the many activities and services that support the enhancement of student learning experiences. These include the Academy’s change programmes. The feedback we have received from participants in previous programmes is extremely positive including representing very good value for money.

Other news, updates and articles relating to the Academy and the general HE Sector are available on our news pages and in Academy Update.

Events

If you have an event local, regional or national which will interest colleagues in the HE in FE sector, please forward details to us at heinfe@heacademy.ac.uk

A full list of upcoming subject based, national and international events is published on our events page.

'Future Directions' conference - Graduates For Our Future

26 April 2012: Glyndŵr University in Wrexham.

Wales’ first national Learning and Teaching Conference

The focus of the inaugural conference will be to showcase and celebrate the first Wales-wide quality enhancement theme, Graduates For Our Future, and its three work strands: Students as Partners; Learning in Employment; and Learning for Employment.

Wales’ Graduates For Our Future theme was chosen to help higher education in Wales address the priorities outlined in the Welsh Government’s For Our Future: The 21st Century Higher Education Strategy and Plan for Wales, in which two priorities for the sector are highlighted: delivering social justice, and supporting a buoyant economy.

Further comment, details and booking.