Author: Billy Camden

Nearly 400 staff at one of the largest colleges in the country face an uncertain future while post-merger restructuring gets underway, a union has claimed. Nottingham College, a new body formed formed between New College Nottingham and Central College Nottingham, which finally merged on June 8 after a 10-month delay, is currently consulting on a […]

Learners stuck with heavy loans debt but no qualifications, after a training provider went bust, are still being forced to make repayments, even though the government promised these would be deferred. The situation has been brought to FE Week’s attention by nine learners affected by the demise of Hampshire-based Edudo Ltd, which we reported in […]

Private training providers have maintained their near 10-point lead over colleges in the government’s annual learner satisfaction survey, which was published this week. The Department for Education released the results of its annual survey, which had 364,589 respondents, representing 18.2 per cent of all learners, on June 13. Private providers scored 90 out of 100 […]

There was a sharp rise in the number of EU students taking up advanced learner loans this year despite the looming spectre of Brexit, government statistics show. Figures for take-up of all FE loans were released by the Department for Education last week, and the overall picture showed starts had gone up compared with the […]

Ofsted’s inspection budget is expected to fall by nearly £15 million over the next three years, despite more than doubling the number of providers in scope for inspection. The education watchdog released its annual report and accounts this morning. Since 2010/11, Ofsted’s financial resource has been reduced by over £54 million. It currently sits at […]

Six Conservative MPs, including three former education ministers, have been nominated to stand for election to chair the House of Commons education committee. The deadline for nominations officially passed at 3pm today, and Nick Boles, Rehman Chishti, Robert Halfon, Tim Loughton, Stephen Metcalfe and Dr Dan Poulter have officially made the ballot. The MPs had to […]

A college in the midst of completing a three-way merger was chosen by Anne Milton as her first FE provider to visit since she became skills minister. Ms Milton (pictured above right), who replaced Robert Halfon after a shock sacking last month, was given a tour last week of Surrey-based Carshalton College – which is […]

An “inspirational” refugee student from Salford City College has been crowned ‘BTEC student of the year’ at a prestigious national awards ceremony hosted by Pearson this afternoon. The stunning Royal Horticultural Halls in London was the setting for the seventh National BTEC Awards, where 22 students, teachers and employers were singled out for excellence, from […]