This project was funded by AimHigher Norfolk. Its aims were to evaluate the understanding and needs of employers who are supporting Modern Apprenticeships or National Vocational Qualifications at Level 3 and to assess their knowledge and perception of any barriers to progression onto a Level 4 or Higher Education course with particular regard to Foundation degrees. The project also surveyed learners’ who were undertaking these qualifications at City College Norwich.

The main findings and recommendations are that:
• Levels of knowledge and understanding about Higher Education in general and Foundation degrees (Fds) in particular are low amongst both employers and students and act as a barrier to informed choice.  Given the place that Fds have in the Government’s HE strategy, it is important for there to be a specific focus on increasing public and market awareness of Fds as part of the HE portfolio. Fds are currently the least understood HE award.
• In most of the cases where employers were familiar with Fds, their understanding or information tended to come from personal contact with current or past students or having worked with the college in a variety of capacities. Other sources of information came from publicity material such as catalogues, prospectuses and other specific Fd promotional material.  Marketing about Fds therefore needs to emphasise personal contact where possible and to include both generic and focussed types of promotional material. The project recommends a co-ordinated approach to networking with employers in order to inform and build new relationships and reinforce existing ones. 
• The areas where employers already had staff trained to HE levels were either in specialised fields such as engineering or where staff held supervisory or management positions with a strategic and/or people management remit.  In order to increase the appeal of Fds it is important that any marketing strategy should reflect the range of employee situations which could benefit from an Fd and extend their use beyond the areas currently perceived by employers as appropriate. 
• Although employers valued education or training qualifications at Level 4, they were often not able to use staff qualified at this level due to a lack of employee promotion opportunities within their organisation.  This was most often the case with SMEs (small to medium size enterprises) of which Norfolk has a proliferation.  Marketing of Fds needs to ensure that all employers, particularly SMEs, are aware of the versatility of these awards and their appropriateness in a variety of situations. 
• In the majority of cases, the education or training that employers most valued was role specific and directly related to staff employment opportunities.  From this perspective Foundation degrees were generally welcomed by employers in principle.
• The majority of employers who found Fds appealing did so because they were targeted to business; employers were closely involved in their development and they were specifically vocational and suitably in-depth. Some of the employers were particularly interested in the development of Fds that covered ‘soft skills’ such as people skills and customer relations. This is a usefully generic area of wide appeal.  Developing an Fd around ‘soft skills’ is an area of potential growth.
• Potentially replacing HNDs with Fds concerned a minority of employers because they were not sure of the status of the Fd as a stand alone award or whether their employees would have to top-up to an honours degree in order to have a recognised qualification.  Some employers used HNDs for staff at certain levels in the organisation and felt that the Fd would not be suitable for these people because they perceived it as more advanced than their need.   Specific plans to remove existing HNC/Ds need to ensure that the employers who currently support staff to study these awards are consulted.  Fd marketing needs to emphasise that an Fd is a stand alone degree and that a top-up is not required in order to gain from this qualification. The level of Fds needs to be clarified in marketing materials.
• The time employees have away from work to undertake their studies was a concern of many employers.  Overall opinion was that one to two days away from work was the most that employers could commit to. Time was the major cost factor identified by employers and, particularly for SMEs, the balance between educating their staff and running their business existed on a fine line. The capability of Fds to be undertaken in less than two days per week needs to be emphasised in promotional strategies.
• Lack of commitment to further study on behalf of staff was expressed as a problem by some employers who also said that many employees preferred ‘bite-size’ training.  Some employers expressed a willingness to receive some guidance and assistance from the college in ways that they could promote staff learning, raise aspirations and promote specific awards within their organisation. 
• Employers and students found terminology such as Further Education and Higher Education confusing and unhelpful. Foundation Degrees were often confused with and thought to be the equivalent of Foundation Courses.  Marketing of all types needs to be aware of this potential public confusion and a concentrated effort to separate these two kinds of award in public and market awareness needs to be made. 
• A relatively high number of students were interested in further studies but suffered from lack of information about the progression routes they could take. FE to HE progression opportunities should feature in internal and external marketing materials. 
• A large number of students expected to be informed which educational awards were available and appeared not to actively seek this information out for themselves.  It follows that the college cannot assume that students will avail themselves of promotional material and provision needs to be made to ensure that there are processes in place to personally promote progression routes.  All staff have a role as a point of contact and need to be aware of the potential progression routes available to their students
• Students who were familiar with HE awards related to HNC/Ds and BA/BSc’s.  A small minority of students had considered studying for an Fd.  The data very clearly shows that student choices are determined by the information they have about awards and knowledge of Fds is still limited in the public and business domain.  Marketing about Fds could be combined with HNC/Ds as the knowledge of the latter is greater and potentially interest students more. A comparison could be made between the two awards which would help address the lack of knowledge students have about Fds and also highlight the strengths of the Fd.
• A majority of students wanted to continue to study and had clear goals of what they wanted to achieve.  The students who did not want to continue to study also had goals, many of them wanted to travel and/or work. 
• A majority of students who wanted to continue to study expressed a preference in an arrangement that allowed them to be earning while learning. This is a key feature of Fds and should feature in all marketing and promotional materials and strategies. 
Getting into debt and the fear of having to pay Higher Education fees are major barriers to further progression.  The majority of students who were sent information after completing the survey wanted information on fees.  Any myths that students might have about the cost of HE and the affordability of study in HE need to be dispelled by giving students clear information on student finances as a matter of course. This is particularly the case for top-up fees in 2006/07 (DfES, 2003).

Open full report