Education Update - News January 2010
Published: 20th January 2010
Further Education
Sector Skills Councils
Four further Sector Skills Councils (SSCs) have been relicensed:
Creative and Cultural Skills, covering the creative and cultural sector;
Lantra, covering the environmental and land-based sector;
Proskills, covering the process and manufacturing sector; and
Skillsmart Retail, covering the retail sector.
The four SSCs were successful in their applications for further trademark licences to operate as SSCs and went through a comprehensive assessment process led by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills.
College takes LSC to judicial review
Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education has won the right to a judicial review, expected to take place before the summer, examining the LSC's handling of the capital crisis.
It argues that the LSC should have been able to warn colleges earlier that the money was running out and, having discovered the shortfall, should have compensated them before approving another 13 new campuses this summer.
The college wants £3.75 million to refund its costs in planning for the £139 million development.
Other colleges are unlikely to benefit, however. Although a victory for Grimsby could be seen as a precedent, parties have to file for judicial review within three months of the original decision unless there are exceptional circumstances.
£200 million funding release
Funding for 16 - 19 year olds has received an unexpected boost with an extra £200 million announced in the pre-budget report for the DCSF. As well as the £200 million boost, cash for 16-19 places will rise by 0.9 % in real terms each year under the plans.
However, adult skills will see a further £300 million cut by 2013 on top of the £340 million of savings identified for the 2010/2011 budget, despite denials from BIS in November that any further cuts were being planned.
Apprenticeships success
BIS has announced that more people completed apprenticeships in the 2008/2009 academic year than ever before. According to the latest figures, 143,400 people completed their apprenticeships, an increase of 27.4% on the previous year.
Higher Education
Funding squeeze reactions...
According to the Guardian, the Russell Group has warned "It has taken more than 800 years to create one of the world's greatest education systems, and it looks like it will take just six months to bring it to its knees."
They go on to say: "If government targets these huge cuts on university budgets they will have a devastating effect not only on students and staff, but also on our international competitiveness, national economy and ability to recover from recession ... cuts of this magnitude in overall funding will impact on the sustainability of our research and cannot fail to affect even the most outstanding universities."
In last month's pre-budget report, ministers announced they would reduce £600m from the budget by 2013. This is on top of £180m the government asked universities to find in "efficiency savings" by 2011, and a further £135m asked for in the same period by Lord Mandelson.
Universities were also told to overhaul how they teach degrees, with an emphasis on offering shorter, two-year and flexible courses. The mounting pressure on universities' budgets makes it ever more likely that a review of student funding, currently under way, will conclude that students have to pay more than the current £3,225 annual fee for their degrees.
David Lammy, the higher education minister, said "We are minimising the effect on the frontline by making savings on capital budgets, asking the sector for further efficiency savings and by asking the Higher Education Funding Council for England to look to reduce funding which will not impact on teaching."
Wendy Piatt, the director general of the Russell Group, said: "In a very difficult economic climate it is welcome that the department has maintained the increase in research funding previously promised ... We are concerned, however, that the cuts to universities' teaching budgets and capital projects will be particularly challenging."
"Reducing the amount of funding per student will create real and long term difficulties for UK universities and will only serve to undermine the quality of the student experience."
Student Loans review
The Student Loans Company (SLC) provided a poor standard of service during 2009, according to an independent report by Deian Hopkin. The review was commissioned in October 2009 after it was revealed thousands of students had not received their loans on time. The report indicates a "deliberate under-resourcing" at its call centres, with only 5 per cent of calls made answered; and a lack of transparency in revealing the depth of its problems.
