157 Group and MEG publish joint paper on higher education in colleges
11th October 2010
Monday 11 October 2010
157 Group and MEG publish joint paper on higher education in colleges.
The 157 Group and the Mixed Economy Group (MEG) have published a joint policy paper, Rising to the challenge: how FE colleges are key to the future of HE. The paper refers to Lord Browne's independent review of higher education and student funding, which is widely expected to recommend that individuals and employers should bear more of the cost of higher education.
Frank McLoughlin CBE, chair of the 157 Group and principal of City and Islington College, said, " At a time when businesses and families are still feeling the full impact of the recession, the prospect of higher costs for HE is worrying for many. We strongly believe that further education colleges have an increasingly pivotal role to play in addressing the challenges that we as a nation face - greater demand for higher education and higher-level skills, and not enough money.
"FE is central to the future direction of HE policy, and we want to highlight the much overlooked and under-reported provision of high-quality HE in FE colleges."
John Widdowson CBE, chair of MEG and principal of New College Durham, said, "Our joint paper describes the ways in which FE colleges provide higher education, locally and cost-effectively, which is especially helpful for those who might not otherwise be able to participate, including people in full-time or part-time employment and those from non-traditional groups.
"We hope that this timely paper will draw attention to the range of solutions that our FE colleges offer to help equip young people and adults of all ages with the higher level skills and knowledge needed for our economy to thrive."
Rising to the challenge: how FE colleges are key to the future of HE is available to download in PDF format from the 157 Group website at www.157group.co.uk/publications.
