Executive Summary
This report examines the further and higher education sectors in the UK, both of which are currently undergoing considerable change. These two sectors comprise seven kinds of institutions — sixth form colleges; tertiary education colleges; further education colleges; universities; adult education institutes; privately-owned independent colleges of education; and distance learning organisations. The total number of students in further and higher education in the 1998/1999 academic year was 4.7 million and 1.8 million respectively.
p>In the higher education sector, full-time students aged 18 to 21 predominate. Although the number of mature students has grown significantly in recent years, their numbers have decreased slightly since 1998. Definitions of mature students vary, with the cut-off age regarded as either 21 or 25. In the further education sector (where part-time courses are much more common), there is a high percentage of mature students. Overseas students are also important, representing around 10% of students in further and higher education.
Cambridge, Imperial College, London, Oxford, Bristol and University College, London remain at the top of the league table compiled by The Times/The Times Higher Education Supplement. However, other universities are rising in importance, including Bath, York, Warwick, Edinburgh and Nottingham. Furthermore, there are some universities carving out a reputation in a particular field. Therefore, while they may not be among the top ten or 20, they may (in specific areas) challenge the more renowned universities.
The current concerns of the further and higher education sectors centre on the following issues — rising student numbers, accessibility to the sector for disadvantaged groups of people, delivering more flexible courses, linking education more closely to vocational needs (especially true in the further education sector) and funding, which includes the emotive question of tuition fees. Funding has proved to be the main issue.
A considerable change in the further education sector will be the introduction of 2-year foundation degrees designed and validated by the higher education sector. A pilot programme is due to start in
September/October 2001, and a full national programme will be launched in 2003. The further education sector is also going to be working closely with the new Learning and Skills Councils — the replacement for the Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs).
Key Note estimates that by the 2004/2005 academic year, there will be 5.7 million students in the further education sector and 2.2 million students in the higher education sector. This represents an increase of 21.3% and 17.4% respectively over the 1998/1999 numbers.
Third Edition 2000
Edited by Dominic Fenn
ISBN 1-85765-925-2
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