Guide 02/20

HEFCE strategic plan 2002-07

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Foreword (read on-line)

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Foreword

The 2002-07 strategic plan prepares the way for a much bigger exercise. The 2003-08 strategic plan will bear the fruits of a major review of higher education over the next 10 years, set against the needs of students, the economy and society. The current plan builds on developments and achievements already in train, many of which were identified in the 2001-06 strategic plan.

The current plan seeks to develop the many positive features of higher education. Universities and colleges are today increasingly recognised as the major drivers of the country's economic competitiveness and the well being of society including:

• improving competitiveness, through skills, knowledge transfer and technology
• improving quality of life
• improving social cohesion, through greater inclusiveness and shared values
• generating wealth through the development of science and creative industries.

We want to build on the results of the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. These provide further confirmation that researchers in the UK are among the best in the world: more than half the country's researchers are in departments that carry out work of international standing.

We also want to ensure that completion rates for UK students remain among the best in the world, despite the fact that we now have a mass system of higher education, open to many different types of student. Universities and colleges are doing much to improve the employability of graduates by equipping them with the skills they will need at work throughout their careers. New initiatives, such as Foundation Degrees, are providing challenging opportunities, better aligned to the workplace, which are proving attractive to non-traditional students.

We recognise our responsibilities and pivotal role in meeting government targets for higher education. We are especially committed to working with the Learning and Skills Council, universities, further education colleges and schools to meet the challenging target of 50 per cent of 18-30 year-olds having the opportunity to benefit from higher education by 2010. Achieving this target will require co-ordinated action at the national, regional and local levels, through a campaign to capture the imagination of the providers and consumers of higher education.

As well as addressing these themes, our major efforts are currently directed towards developing with our partners and stakeholders a longer-term view of higher education. The results will feed into our strategic plan for 2003-08, to be published in March 2003.

Sir Howard Newby
Chief Executive