Billy Camden

  • Eleventh UTC to close after student numbers almost halve

    An ‘inadequate’ university technical college is to close just four years after opening as it is “no longer financially viable” following a huge drop in student numbers. South Wiltshire UTC will become the eleventh provider of its type to close since the programme launched in 2010. Like many of the other failed institutions, it has…

    17.59 Jul. 18th, 2019 | News

  • Ofsted misses FE inspection target by more than 10%

    Ofsted missed its inspection target for FE providers by 11 per cent this year – the biggest miss out of all education sectors. The education watchdog’s corporate annual reports and accounts for 2018/19, published today, shows that it had aimed to carry out 323 inspections in further education but ended up conducting 287. This is…

    14.30 Jul. 18th, 2019 | News

  • Revealed: Learner satisfaction scores for 2018/19

    Overall learner satisfaction with FE providers slightly increased this year, according to new government figures. The Department for Education released the results of its 2018/19 online student survey this morning, which showed 82 per cent of all learners would recommend their training provider and college to friends or family. Private training providers scored 88.2 out…

    10.20 Jul. 18th, 2019 | News

  • Rollout of national retraining scheme gets underway

    The government has finally revealed details of the first phase of the national retraining scheme, with the launch of a new digital service that will act as a course and job directory. Initially heavily restricted to only include people from the Liverpool City Region, adults will be invited to test the system if they are…

    0.01 Jul. 18th, 2019 | News

  • Nearly a dozen unions challenge college for union reps after lecturer sacked

    Ten trade unions are involved in a dispute with a cash-strapped college that trains “thousands” of their members each year, after several unionists were suspended or were threatened with redundancy. Their leaders have written to Ruskin College after the University and College Union said branch officer and lecturer Lee Humber was sacked on 12 July…

    16.30 Jul. 17th, 2019 | News

  • The new head of the IfATE must address the quality assurance conundrum

    It’ll be an overflowing in-tray for Jennifer Coupland, but Tom Bewick believes he knows the most urgent task The chief executive-designate of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, Jennifer Coupland, faces a large in-tray. At the Federation of Awarding Bodies we have tried to resist throwing brick-bats at the organisation – preferring instead to…

    11.41 Jul. 17th, 2019 | Opinion

  • Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education announces new chief executive

    The new chief executive of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is top skills civil servant Jennifer Coupland. She is currently the director of professional and technical education in the Education and Skills Funding Agency, and was previously acting chief executive of the Standards Testing Agency. Prior to that Coupland spent three years as…

    12.11 Jul. 15th, 2019 | News

  • IfATE delays controversial £40 per apprentice fee

    The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has pushed back its £40 per learner charge for apprenticeship quality assurance to November and committed to reviewing the arrangement in the longer-term. It follows sector criticism of the “unfair” charge, which outraged assessment organisations after they were originally told it would be implemented from September. They had…

    15.17 Jul. 16th, 2019 | News

  • UCU plans 15 days of strikes at college involved in contracts row

    A college involved in a bitter row over pay is facing weeks of staff walkouts when the new academic year starts – with plans for a mammoth 15 days of strike action during September and October. Members of the University and Colleges Union are angry about new contracts being offered by Nottingham College, which it…

    12.25 Jul. 15th, 2019 | News

  • Capital ideas: new CEO on his plans to rejuvenate finances of London mega-college

    A huge 5 per cent staff pay rise costing over £2 million per year was a big win for the University and College Union in November, and for the time being, this settlement put an end to troublesome disputes at Capital City Colleges Group. But a closer look by FE Week has found unplanned multi-million-pound…

    7.00 Jul. 12th, 2019 | News

  • FE Commissioner recommends 3-way split for Hadlow College Group

    The FE Commissioner has recommended that the Hadlow College Group be split-up and taken on by three colleges, FE Week can reveal. Richard Atkins’ team has made the recommendation following a review of the scandal-hit group, which saw Hadlow College become the first provider to fall under the new insolvency regime with the appointment of…

    20.54 Jul. 11th, 2019 | News