Consultation 01/73

Respond by 22 March 2002

Partnerships for Progression

Proposals by the HEFCE and the Learning and Skills Council

Outcomes of consultation (November 2002)

Executive summary (read on-line)

The consultation is now closed. Thank you for your responses.

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Executive summary

Purpose

1. The Government has set a target that, by the year 2010, 50 per cent of those aged between 18 and 30 should have the opportunity to benefit from higher education. That is an ambitious goal. To achieve it we need to strengthen existing partnerships between higher education (HE), further education (FE) and schools in order to raise both the attainments and the aspirations of young people. This consultation document seeks views on how best that might be done.

Key points

2. Widening participation and raising attainment are high priorities for both the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). These proposals have been prepared jointly by the two Councils, which will together pursue implementation of the initiative.

3. To achieve the target of 50 per cent participation in higher education, we need to raise attainment at NVQ levels 2 and 3, in order to encourage more and better-prepared students to stay on in education at age 16 and then go on to HE. There is already an extensive reform programme to raise standards in schools, and to encourage post-16 participation. This project would aim to complement that. A particular priority is to raise attainment and participation among young people from disadvantaged groups, who are currently under-represented in HE. We also need to provide better routes for those already in work to increase skills levels and entry to HE through workplace learning.

4. The proposed joint initiative would build upon and encompass the extensive regional and local partnerships which already exist. It would link together into a more coherent framework the activities for successive age groups of school and FE students, and across different progression routes. It would build upon effective practice wherever this takes place, and be responsive to local needs.

5. We will need a significant investment to achieve our aim of increasing HE participation through stronger partnerships. This would be focused on:

1. Supporting and extending HE/FE partnerships, with dedicated staff to work with schools and FE education and training providers, and a programme of regionally co-ordinated activities including summer schools, mentoring and shadowing.

2. Raising quality standards in FE provision to increase attainment and retention in lower socio-economic groups.

3. Incentives for workplace learning and progression routes into HE.

4. A national programme of research, evaluation and dissemination.

Action invited

6. We invite responses to be sent by Friday 22 March 2002 to Clare Streatfield at the HEFCE.

The consultation is now closed. Thank you for your responses.