Widening Access in Higher Education – Are We There Yet?

National Education Opportunities Network (NEON) Summer Symposium 2017 Caroline Rowley, Regional Director 9 June 2017 Notre Dame SFC College Northern College

Scarborough SFC College

Thomas Rotherham College College Association of Colleges (AoC)

A keynote in two parts

1. Association of Colleges perspective

2. The search for relevance - alternative take, thoughts and questions on widening access in HE

Time for questions and discussion. Henshaws College

John Leggott College Grimsby Institute Leeds College of Building

Longley Park SFC New College Pontefract Professional membership body • Promote • Support • Represent Franklin College

Bradford College College

Communication Specialist College Doncaster Association of Colleges Perspective

Widening access to HE from the perspective of:

• Colleges as a provider of students to HE

• Colleges as providers of higher education in their own right.

Harrogate College Goole College

Doncaster College & Yorkshire Coast College University Centre Colleges in Yorkshire & the Humber

Thirty six colleges collectively: • 285,000 students • 80,000 16-19 year olds • 175,000 adults • 30,000 apprenticeships • 15,000 HE students • 18,000 staff • 19,460 businesses linked • £764m turnover • 95% inspected as good or outstanding

21 GFE, nine SFCs and six specialist colleges A college in every community. AoC perspective on College HE

• The profile of CHE students has been changing. While CHE was characterised by part time mature students, there has been an increase in the number of younger FT students

• While CHE provision evolved as a progression route for students increasingly programmes are being designed by subject and for cohorts

• More targeted HEFCE funding has meant reductions in funding for colleges

• Increasing concerns about HEI low and unconditional offers to students in an increasingly competitive environment. AoC perspective on HE

Colleges • Welcome collective partnership with HEIs on WP and widening access whether projects or initiatives

• Long standing partnerships e.g. – in Y&H Higher York, Sheffield Hallam and Hull University

• Have a positive response to NCOP and new approaches to WP and new partnering arrangements

• Combinations of HEI accreditation, FDAP and TDAP are nurtured and encouraged. AoC perspective on College HE

But Colleges can be frustrated by their HEI and accreditation partnerships • Where they can be seen as commercial rather than for social equality or social mobility • Where they are temporary and transient rather than long term and strategic • Where costs levied are so great as to undermine the quality of the provision • Where no real endeavour is made to address CAT and flexible accreditation • Where widening access is danger of becoming a project, initiative or department within institution rather than a pan- institutional strategic imperative. AoC suggestions on HE

Do we mean access to an HEI or access to higher education?

Suggestions • we need to widen what we mean by HE beyond an institution • move to the concept of a Tertiary Education system with 1. Degree and higher apprenticeships 2. Technical HE 3. Professional HE (various routes and types of attendance) 4. Academic HE

All with the same supporting fees/loans system. 14

AoC suggestions on HE

A system of HE that: • is intellectually robust and rigorous • is academically excellent, relevant and high quality • develops student potential and capacity • is based on demonstrated ability and what students achieve

• is not based on income, how old you are, your work or family commitments, where you live or how you attend

• Enables individuals to meet the considerable social and economic challenges they face. Apprenticeships & widening access

New apprenticeship levy • Big change in how skills and training are funded • ‘A new tax on employers’ • 0.5% of payroll for employers with payroll over £3m • With allowances and new IT systems based approach • HLS and degree apprenticeships • Most interest in higher level apprenticeships • 16-18 apprenticeships remain state funded • HEFEC seminar on apprenticeships…

• Advertising hoarding emblazoned ‘23, degree, debt free’ Apprenticeships & widening access

New apprenticeship levy • 22,000 levy paying employers • 450 companies will pay 50% of total levy • Est. 2,000 levy paying employers in Y&H • £1.5bn raised by levy

• New rates to be set • New frameworks • New systems and providers for accreditation • New digital apprenticeship accounts and payment systems for colleges • 87 slides worth of system / bureaucracy • Concerns about gaming, fraud and scamming Apprenticeships & widening access

New apprenticeship levy – quotes, chatter and hyperbole • KPMG – use apprentices to mentor graduates • Barclays may go over to recruitment @ 18 with degree level apprentices • NHS – expect biggest use of levy will be upskilling existing staff

• Large training companies ‘eating our lunch’ • Companies will establish their own provision • ‘Spending our levy’ will be a theme and drive corporate action

• Colleges response will be vital • Colleges currently dwell in the SME employer market Apprenticeships & widening access

New apprenticeship levy • Explore the new Apprenticeship Levy • Develop provision in partnership between colleges, HEIs and employers • A more equal partnership of expertise and capacity • Explore by sector, by level, by employer engagement, by expertise • Avoid hitches, glitches and traps

• The opportunity to revolutionise access to higher level skills and higher education • Post Brexit economy and home grown talent PART 2: The Search for Relevance Alternative take, thoughts and questions on widening access in HE

Widening Access in Higher Education – Are We There Yet? Higher Education – Search for Relevance

What is our role in ensuring the relevance of higher education • For all sections of the population • For socio-economic groups • By area and postcode • By career and life cycle expectation Higher Education – Search for Relevance

Is their a danger of our adopting a culturally imperialistic approach, are we implicitly: • ‘knowing what’s good for you?’ OR • presuming value for all?

• With ever higher fees, better buildings and facilities, increasing focus on a consumeristic approach, is there a danger that widening access initiatives become a soft sell / soft marketing? Higher Education – Half the story?

• We’ve widened access to higher level skills and undergraduate study

• How much progress have we made in widening access to research, development and innovation?

• We look at ideas such as democratising innovation, better engagement with R&D, driving up national productivity, enabling a better educated population to better engage in change and improvement. • But have we really paid attention to widening access and increasing participation in the gold standard of higher education institutions? Higher Education – Half the story?

• We’ve widened access to higher level skills and undergraduate study

• How much progress have we made in widening access to research, development and innovation?

• We look at ideas such as democratising innovation, better engagement with R&D, driving up national productivity, enabling a better educated population to better engage in change and improvement. • But have we really paid attention to widening access and increasing participation in the gold standard of higher education institutions? Higher Education – Half the story?

Where are: • HE run the open source innovation models? • the seeker solver networks? • the weekly challenge emails to all your graduates? • Where are the Procter & Gamble style product development and reward structures? • Where are we on public understanding of… programmes? • How easy is it for alumni, individuals, companies and SMEs to get access to and benefit from the very best, very cutting edge of what you do?

• Examining the REF and the sluggish evolution of impact and impact measures – unevenly spread and inconsistently evaluated. Higher Education – Half the story?

• Considering these factors starts to suggest, that in terms of higher education, in a modern context, we are perhaps only really half way there. Questions and Discussion

Thank You