This document (presented at the AoC/HEFCE conference in May 2006) sets out the current thinking of the Higher Education Funding Council for England and issues for review in considering key proposals from the 2006 White Paper – Further education: raising skills, improving life chances. 

Part 1 of the paper considers the development of HE in FE, the ‘funding and the institutional boundary’ within which this has tended to be situated, and the inherent complexities created by multiple funding and quality assurance bodies for HE in FECs. A number of significant issues from the Foster report and the DFES White Paper are highlighted and the implications of such, in terms of this review.

Part 2 of this paper set out statistics of funding provision for FE and various funding routes.
It considers a redefining of policy regarding HE in FE, in response to the Foster report, with its’ suggested focus on technical and vocational provision at levels 3 and 4. Quality assurance procedures for HE in FE are discussed, with a proposal for a new review method. The paper sets out the questions and challenges which need to be addressed as to the purpose of HE in FECs.

Open full report