In response to the Prime Minister’s announcement on the education and funding review, David Hughes, Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges, said:
“The growth in higher education numbers and the widened access has almost exclusively been for young people taking traditional three-year undergraduate degrees. Colleges play an important part in helping young people access these opportunities…
However, that growth has been at the expense of adequate and fair investment in the 50% of people who leave education at 18 and who want to study to higher levels later…
The review will be a difficult balancing act. It would be wrong to damage the growth in the numbers of young people accessing three-year undergraduate degrees, however, more investment is needed to make other forms of higher education more attractive and more accessible. Colleges support more than 150,000 people to study to sub-degree and degree level and with the right support and investment, this number could be much higher. That would mean more adults able to improve their work and life prospects by studying in their own community while working and dealing with other commitments such as caring.”
Ray Brogden, COO of Qualifi invites colleagues within the FE sector to visit the Qualifi website https://qualifi.net/university-pathways/ to access information relating to Qualifi’s Advanced Learner Loan recognised L3,4,5 and 6 qualifications and associated final year Degree top Up options; a means by which Qualifi centres can enable its learners and local community access to cost-effective, flexible higher education. Options that also include L7 qualifications with Top Up to MBA, MA and MSc options.
Full article here – https://www.aoc.co.uk/news/aocs-response-the-prime-ministers-announcement-the-post-18-education-and-funding-review