Author: Alix Robertson

It is likely that the FE sector will feature “significantly fewer” colleges in the future, the permanent secretary for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has told MPs. Martin Donnelly looked ahead to how he expects the sector to look after post-16 education and training area reviews have been completed across the country, […]

University reserves of around £12bn could play an important role in rebalancing the funding deficit between higher education and FE, a report by Policy Exchange has said. The think tank reported that the university sector now holds a “staggeringly high” level of discretionary reserves, which stands at £12.3bn even after accounting for pension liabilities and […]

The government is expected to face calls to boost FE budgets with funding from the higher education sector in a new report. The Policy Exchange is due to publish its report on Monday (October 19) and it is thought the conclusions will include a rebalancing of government finances towards the two sectors. It comes after […]

Quality must not be compromised in the government’s drive to create 3m apprenticeships by 2020, members of the House of Lords said in a debate on ‘the availability and quality of apprenticeships’. The debate was opened by Labour peer Lady Prosser (pictured above), former deputy general secretary of the Transport and General Workers’ Union and […]

“People without jobs and jobs without people” was Australian chief executive Nicholas Wyman’s chosen topic for the 2015 Edge Foundation Annual Lecture, as he spoke about the challenge of the ‘skills gap’. Mr Wyman delivered his keynote speech to an audience at Glaziers Hall, in London Bridge, following an introduction from former Education Secretary and […]

Government ministers were missing from a lobby on funding cuts to English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol) — despite the event drawing hundreds of demonstrators from across the FE sector. Around 600 staff and students from a range of colleges gathered at the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday (October 14) to protest against the […]

Further education sector members of Unison have “overwhelmingly” voted to reject an Association of Colleges (AoC) pay freeze recommendation for 2015/16, FE Week can reveal. Unison has written to the AoC, and colleges it is negotiating for, with the result and a warning that unless the offer was improved the union would be “in dispute” with […]

Staff and students from across the FE sector gathered outside the Houses of Parliament in their hundreds today to protest against cuts to the provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages (Esol). Demonstrators, said to number around 600 in total, joined the rally to protest against the government’s decision in July to cut funding […]

Chartered status for colleges and training providers in the FE sector has moved an important step closer after the body set up to launch the quality mark was given legal approval. The Queen approved the grant of a Royal Charter to the Institution for Further Education (IfE) in June, as reported in FE Week. The […]