The long-awaited government response to the Augar Review of Post-18 Education and Funding has been published albeit in an interim form. David Summers, OCR Stakeholder Relationship Manager, considers the DfE’s priorities for ‘rebalancing’ further and higher education.

It’s been nearly two years since Philip Augar published his Review of Post-18 Education and Funding. He had been asked to undertake this review by the then Prime Minister, Teresa May. This would be the first report challenged with looking at both further and higher education since the infamous Robbins report of 1963 commissioned to review HE in light of national needs at that time.

Augar’s review focused not only on the 50% of young people who go to university but also on those who don’t choose that path. He painted a picture of a well-cared for higher education sector that receives the majority of public funding (2017-18 £8 billion on 1.2 million undergraduates). A very different story was highlighted for FE with reference to a widespread and protracted decline.

Alongside the publication of the Skills For Jobs White Paper in January 2021, we have now had the Department for Education’s interim response to the Augar Review. The DfE final response will not be set out until the next Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). Much of the DfE response reiterates plans outlined in the Skills for Jobs White Paper including:

1. A Lifelong Loan entitlement to create a “flexible system”. Augar recommended this to be used at higher technical and degree level (Level 4 and above) at any stage of an adult’s career for both full and part-time students. As part of the government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee, the DfE has committed to a “lifelong loan entitlement” from 2025, giving adults access to the equivalent of 4 years of post-18 education. It is envisaged that this will allow universities and colleges to provide a more “modular” offer. The DfE has promised a consultation on this in early 2021.
2. New “Local Skills Improvement Plans” to align courses to employer needs. Augar’s Report was clear that it is vital for post-18 provision to address labour market need. The DfE has responded by saying that its vision is for the substantial majority of post-16 technical and higher technical education to be aligned to employer-led standards by the end of this decade (think Apprenticeships and T levels). The DfE will also give employers a “central role” in shaping the technical skills provision offered in local areas beginning with Trailblazer areas where accredited Chambers of Commerce and other business representative organisations will work with FE colleges and other providers to develop new Local Skills Improvement Plans. The DfE intends to legislate to put the employer leadership of these plans on a statutory footing, further strengthening the employer voice.
3. Rebalancing from academic to technical education: The aim of the DfE is to ensure that the quality of technical and academic education is on a par and that both are equally accessible. The Department has a desire to ensure that technical, employer-centric training is a viable option for many more people. DfE announced plans in 2018 to overhaul qualifications at Level 4 and 5 by creating an approved higher technical qualifications offer as an alternative to the traditional full-length degree model.
4. Reforming skills funding: The DfE intends to make reforms to funding across sectors (secondary, FE and HE) to enable a “new flexible, fairer system”. As well as the Lifelong Loan entitlement, the DfE is also investing in FE in order, it claims, to ensure that public money is spent on high quality education and training that leads to good outcomes. On top of this, the DfE has committed to investing capital funding to refurbish the FE estate. Augar also highlighted in his report the “significant and growing taxpayer subsidy in the HE finance system” and as a consequence, the DfE intends to freeze the maximum tuition fee cap to deliver better value for money for students and keep the overall cost of HE under control. This will be for one year but further changes to the system will be considered ahead of the next Comprehensive Spending Review.

Clearly, it will be interesting to see what the final DfE response will be to Augar and for that we will have to wait. The interim response though, and the Skills for Jobs White Paper, show the Government’s intention to rebalance the post-18 tertiary sector.