The paper examines international examples of ‘dual’ institutions - those which combine both further and higher education.   The paper reports on results of a survey which included Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK.

The principal accepted reason behind the creation of ‘duals’ is to increase access to lifelong learning and override the binary divide between further and higher education. The paper presents a theoretical understanding of dual sector institutions by considering and external policy drivers. The definition of a dual is discussed and the terminology as used in international examples

Details are given for the research framework for this particular study and the methodology, qualitative and quantitative, including both interviews and questionnaires.  The research findings relate to institutional identity, institutional structure (such as cross-sector working), campus organisation, governance, staff contracts, student support and concepts of philosophical difference.

The summary and conclusions highlight findings in respect to duals and key factors which affect the approach to both unitary and binary structures.

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