"Tertiary level technical education is in tatters"
17 November 2016
Technical education, at Levels 4 and 5, is on the verge of total collapse, according to a new report by Professor Baroness Alison Wolf.
With supporting research from the Education Policy Institute, the report - Remaking Tertiary Education - proposes significant reform to education that takes place after Key Stage 5, including conventional and foundation degrees, but also HNDs and HNCs.
Findings from the report include:
- In England, technical post-secondary awards now account for less than 2% of substantial qualifications being taken, and well under 1% of all qualifications funded in the adult skills system.
- Where Level 4 and 5 qualifications are being delivered, they are not in subjects that meet the needs of the UK economy or labour market.
- The push, by consecutive governments, for more university graduates has resulted in an unsustainable higher education funding system that is failing to serve the needs of our economy or of students and which has created an imbalance of funding within tertiary education.
Professor Wolf comments: “There are very serious flaws in our system. These flaws are totally unnecessary, highly expensive, involve major misallocation of resources and are ruinous to equal opportunity. We have created here systems which are financially ill-conceived and demonstrably ill-suited to our labour market…..We predict that if current policies are maintained, then 5 and 10 years hence, England will be producing even more undergraduate degrees and even fewer intermediate technical qualifications than at present.”
The report calls for a series of reforms, including:
- A single lifetime tertiary education entitlement, available via an any-time loan and used at any approved tertiary institution. The maximum value of this would be based on a three-year full-time degree.
- A redeveloped qualification framework to re-invigorate a high status public equivalent to the ‘Higher National’ qualification. These qualifications should provide a sub-degree tertiary route open to entrants from a wide variety of secondary programmes as well as adult entrants.
In response to the report, the DfE said it had recently reformed technical qualifications to meet the demands of employers: "Our reforms will go further to create a system that’s fairer for everyone by encouraging higher quality, greater competition and ensuring students and taxpayers receive value for money”.