| 5 November 1998 |  |
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| To heads of all FE sector colleges |
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Dear Head of College
Additional student places and funds
You should recently have received the circular inviting you to bid for additional student places. Since a number of further education sector colleges have raised questions about gaining student places, we thought that it would be helpful to provide some supplementary guidance to clarify two issues addressed in the circular.
Bidding for additional student places
Colleges may have different reasons for wanting to gain higher education (HE) student numbers. Some may want to start or to increase their portfolio of HE provision by developing new HE courses; and some may want to increase numbers for existing HE courses. In either case, the standard route through which colleges may gain HE funded student numbers is through the bidding scheme for additional student places. This scheme is competitive and bids need to address the criteria set out in the circular inviting bids. The invitation to bid for student places for the academic year 1999-2000 was published on 29 October 1998 (HEFCE 98/56); it is also available on our web site.
The return date for submitting bids is 4 December 1998.
We would advise colleges who wish to bid for HE student places to read the circular as soon as possible and to contact us immediately if they have any questions. In addition to describing the purpose of the scheme and the criteria by which we will assess bids, the circular explains the basis on which we will allocate numbers and funds. The text of paragraphs 34 and 35 of the circular is as follows:
Student places
| 34. | We encourage institutions to submit bids which will have a significant impact upon provision, while still being realistic about their rate of growth. When assessing bids, we will take into account the size of the institution’s current higher education provision. Thus we would expect to see some justification in the case of a large higher education provider seeking small numbers. Equally, we would expect to see justification from a small higher education provider seeking proportionally large numbers, and from an FE sector college which has not hitherto provided any HE. In the case of bids for full-time undergraduate students, we would not normally expect to see any bids for fewer than 25 places. | |
| 35. | We intend to allocate a single uplift in funding and student numbers for 1999-2000. This will not increase to allow for subsequent intakes where courses are for more than one year's duration. The funds and student numbers will roll into institutions' core provision for subsequent years. We recognise that in exceptional circumstances institutions may have to phase their allocation across academic years. |
These two paragraphs have special significance for colleges who either wish to offer HE programmes for the first time or currently have only a few HE student numbers. We would still expect such colleges, who wish to bid for HE student places, to seek numbers that will have a significant impact on their HE provision overall. However, we recognise that, to reach a steady state, they may need to build up gradually either their intake to year 1 of a new course or their numbers for all years of a course.
The bidding programme normally operates by allocating additional places only for the first year of a course, with institutions expected to accommodate subsequent years by redeployment within their overall student numbers. However, we realise that this way of allocating places may not give colleges that currently have few or no HE numbers, sufficient flexibility to achieve their planned steady state numbers for the course. Therefore we will recognise the exceptional circumstances of all colleges whose total student numbers on all their HE programmes are fewer than 100 full-time equivalent students in 1998-99. Such colleges should include in their bid all the additional places that they will need to achieve the planned full complement on the course. For example, a bid for a two year course should include the places for both years, and one for a three year course, all three years. Colleges should specify in the text of their bid the duration of the course and the breakdown of places between years. If the bid is successful, we will phase the allocation over the academic years, as appropriate.
Recently started courses that are longer than one year's duration
Some colleges may have already started an HE course that is longer than one year's duration, but that has not yet completed all subsequent years' intakes. In such cases, where we are satisfied that the recently started course conforms to colleges' existing business plans, we will not expect them to compete for the remaining places through the full bidding scheme. Instead, we will seek information only about:
- the numbers planned for the course
- the qualification structure of the course
- the quality assurance and assessment procedures that are in place
- the learning opportunities that the course provides for students
- the staff resources committed to the course.
Provided that we are satisfied with the information that we receive, we will allocate additional funded places to enable colleges to complete the full complement of cohorts to the course.
Any college that wishes to seek additional student places to complete a recently started course should contact Jemma Selby at the HEFCE by 18 November 1998 at the latest. She will provide a template for completing the information that we require.
Please contact Jemma Selby either by e-mail at j.selby@hefce.ac.uk or by telephone on 0117 931 7379, if you have queries about any part of this letter.
Yours faithfully
Brian Fender CMG
Chief Executive