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13 May 2026

Author: FE Week Reporter

Life’s a beach at Bournemouth and Poole College

Forty  enthusiastic Italian students say they will be taking home fantastic memories of Bournemouth after a year experiencing A-Levels at Bournemouth and Poole College. The students say they were mightly impressed by the quality of the teaching at the college as they experienced a year of life at a typical English college. They studied a […]

College finances redder than they might seem

The Times Education Supplement on Friday published an “exclusive” on the state of the college finances. The headline was somewhat eye-catching: “FE colleges in the black”. The researchers used the college accounts for 2009/10 published by the Skills Funding Agency this spring. The numbers showed that colleges reported an average operating surplus of about £300,000 […]

WorkdSkills needs help

The ‘greatest skills competition in the world’ is coming to London this October. The competitions in 45 skills areas over four days will host hopeful medallists from over 50 countries/regions and attract 150,000 visitors. The organisers are looking for 2,500 volunteers, to take on roles from Tour Guide to Press Office. For more details on […]

Shane Chowen, vice president, NUS

He has been pelted with eggs at a rally, escorted away from violent crowds by the police, but as he comes to the end of his stint as vice president (FE) of the NUS, the incident Shane Chowen seems most indignant about involves Vanessa Feltz. In a live radio interview on the education maintenance allowance, […]

Ofqual disappointed

The head of qualifications regulator, Ofqual, has written to all awarding organisations following a series of errors in AS-level exam papers. A maths question from OCR, biology question from Edexcel and a business studies question from AQA all contained mistakes worth up to 11% of the marks. Ofqual has discribed this as “disappointing and unacceptable” […]

16-18 funding continues

The Young People’s Learning Agency has confirmed they will, in exceptional circumstances, continue to fund non-accredited provision for 16-18 year-olds. Their e-bulletin states: “In light of the publication of the Government’s response to the Wolf Review of Vocational Education the DfE has agreed that the YPLA should continue to fund – for a further year […]

RIBA Award for Westminster College

City of Westminster College Paddington Green Campus has won a prestigious 2011 RIBA Award. One of the most rigorously judged architectural awards schemes in the world, RIBA Awards are presented to buildings that display architectural excellence. Winners of Regional Awards are considered for entry to the RIBA Stirling Prize – the most prestigious architectural prize […]

Subcontracting: Incorporating the Guidance

You know your responsibilities to your funding body. But do your subcontractors know their responsibilities to you? FE institutions are funded by the Young Persons’ Learning Agency and the Skills Funding Agency (together “the Agencies”). The Agencies distribute their funds in accordance with the Funding Memorandum and/or the Conditions of Funding which are signed by […]

What has DWP done for the college sector?

Skills conditionality is, if anything, a greater threat to classroom-based adult learning than the removal of fee remission for those poor benighted souls on “inactive” benefits. As the outline of the programme stands at the moment, Department for Work and Pension (DWP) staff appear to be able to tell us what classes to run and […]