Whitehall announces more foundation-degree places

Citation

(2004), "Whitehall announces more foundation-degree places", Education + Training, Vol. 46 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.2004.00446bab.001

Whitehall announces more foundation-degree places

Whitehall announces more foundation-degree places

The Government has announced an additional 10,000 full-time equivalent places to be made available exclusively for foundation degrees in 2004-2005, in a move that will go a long way to ensuring that there are 50,000 full-time equivalent foundation-degree places available by then.

Higher-education institutions and further-education colleges funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) are invited to bid for the additional foundation-degree places and for funds to develop new programmes.

UCAS final-acceptance figures for 2003 show that:

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  overall full-time foundation-degree acceptances in English institutions rose around 75 per cent on the same point the previous year, from 2,964 to 5,155;

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  the number of all full-time foundation-degree courses was up 57 per cent on the same point the previous year (from 1,209 to 1,898); and

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  a total of 41 more institutions were running full-time foundation courses on the same point the previous year (from 106 to 147).

Alan Johnson, Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education, said: "We have made clear that higher-education expansion does not mean more of the same. We need expansion to reflect the needs of the economy and the economy is telling us it needs more graduates with specific skills at a particular level. We expect 750,000 new jobs over the next decade to be at the associate professional level – from medical technicians to aircraft engineers and teaching assistants. Foundation degrees are higher-education qualifications of academic rigour and clear vocational relevance that have been built with employers to help to meet the needs of the workforce". The Minister maintained that focus on foundation degrees did not represent a threat to the availability of honours-degree places. "We are not going to force students to do courses they do not want to do. Foundation-degree places will rise substantially, to at least 50,000 in 2005-2006, but in the same period we can expect student numbers on first-degree courses to rise from just under 890,000 to around 930,000".

Science and Innovation Minister Lord Sainsbury, said: "We have to ensure that the economy benefits from the talents of all our people, and that people have the opportunity to realize their potential. Foundation degrees, developed as they are with employers, provide the skilled workforce business needs to succeed in today's high-technology global economy". The Confederation of British Industry Director-General, Digby Jones, commented: "Foundation degrees have real potential to equip students and employees with the skills that business needs. To deliver high-value courses – whether academic or vocational – universities and further-education colleges must understand the needs of employers and potential students. A flexible, customer-focused approach, backed up by robust quality assurance, is the best way to establish this new qualification with employers and students alike". According to Liz Beaty, Director for Learning and Teaching at HEFCE, the development of foundation degrees provided an excellent example of the growing collaboration between employers, regional-development agencies, sector-skills councils, universities and colleges.