Taking Higher Education Further: Widening Opportunity through College Based Higher Education
Taking Higher Education Further: Widening Opportunity through College Based Higher Education
With economic growth and productivity topping the new Government’s agenda, raising skill levels in Britain’s workforce is more urgent than ever. All skills from basic to graduate are important, but the 21st century’s high-value growth industries – digital technology, green skills, advanced manufacturing, life sciences – among others - depend on a strong supply of employees with higher technical skills. Critically, the number of students accessing higher technical education falls short of the country's needs.
This paper highlights the solution to the problem: our national network of Further Education Colleges, already delivering the bulk of higher technical education in England, and which have the potential to do much more.
Published:
25 March 2025
Key recommendations include:
The Mixed Economy Group’s Manifesto for College Based Higher Education highlights ten key needs for sustainable growth of College Based Higher Education:
1. Further increase core funding for FE Colleges to enable the growth of CBHE. Expand access to capital and revenue grants, along the same lines as the development funding allocated over the past few years to expand T-Level courses.
2. Make colleges’ track record of delivering higher technical education a key criterion for becoming a Technical Excellence College.
3. Establish a much lighter-touch OfS regulatory regime for colleges delivering CBHE in partnership with universities.
4. Design and implement a functional credit transfer framework across the UK to facilitate modular provision enabling students to build their higher qualifications step by step over time.
5. Ensure that Higher Technical Qualifications can be funded by employers through the proposed Growth and Skills Levy and explore ways of delivering them more flexibly to suit working adults.
6. Introduce grant funding to supplement student loans as part of the roll-out of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, targeting courses in areas of skill shortages and high priority growth sectors.
7. Endorse FE colleges as the best vehicle to deliver level 4 and 5 provision(high-level courses below full degrees) to working adults as part of place-based economic development, as well as contributing to local Level 6 and 7 delivery, where necessary in partnership with universities .
8. Strengthen Careers Information, Advice and Guidance to ensure all school children are informed about higher technical education and raise awareness of working adults about the opportunities available to them.
9. Develop a sustained campaign to raise the profile of CBHE, with activity at both national and local level in partnership with local authorities and those responsible for Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs).
Provide greater access to research and development funding to encourage tripartite collaboration between colleges, universities and employers to develop innovative technical training solutions, and encourage the application of new technology.