Author: Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu

A principal at the centre of an expenses scandal announced her retirement today after 18 years at the helm. Stella Mbubaegbu will leave her position at Highbury College in the summer next year.  This follows accusations of the lavish spending of college funds, revealed by FE Week in September. In a statement released on Highbury […]

It has been a mixed week for FE providers amid a flurry of new reports published on Friday by Ofsted, including the first 13 under the new Education Inspection Framework (EIF). Nine providers were found to be ‘good,’ out of a total of 23 reports released today. Those with grade two included six independent learning […]

The first provider to receive grade four under Ofsted’s new inspection regime has appealed. Independent learning provider Mercia Partnership (UK) Ltd, which delivers a range of apprenticeships and adult learning programmes, was found to be inadequate by Ofsted inspectors. It received grade four in every assessed area except adult learning programmes, which received grade three. […]

The National Retraining Scheme should be relaunched as a ‘traineeship for adults,’ according to the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP). The national membership organisation recommended the creation of a form of adult traineeship for unemployed and employed participants in a policy submission ahead of a Department for Education presentation at the AELP autumn […]

It has been a mostly positive week for new apprenticeship providers according to Ofsted’s monitoring reports. Together Training Ltd was praised for ‘significant progress’ in one of three areas, nine independent learning providers received ‘reasonable progress’ across the board and two providers were given ‘insufficient progress’. The only employer provider graded by the education watchdog […]

Thousands of students, staff and people who love colleges across the country signed pledge cards and handed them to their local MP to mark this year’s Colleges Week. Members of Parliament were asked to commit to writing to the chancellor to ask him to include a long-term funding plan for colleges in the next comprehensive […]

The first university technical college to receive an early monitoring visit for its apprenticeship provision has been heavily criticised by Ofsted. London Design and Engineering University Technical College (LDE UTC) was found making ‘insufficient progress’ in two out of the three themes assessed and can now expect to be suspended from recruiting apprentices. Inspectors found […]

Moulton College is in a “perilous position” and its chair and new principal do not appear to “fully recognise” the impact of possible “imminent” insolvency. That is according to one of three FE Commissioner intervention reports released today. Moulton’s review found that “too many students have been failed” by the Northamptonshire college and it must […]

The HMRC has been criticised by Ofsted for keeping hundreds of apprentices on programme for the same duration. The tax office began delivering its own apprenticeships in October 2017 and currently trains 434 apprentices on level 4 standards in professional accounting/taxation technician. Ofsted conducted an early monitoring visit of this provision last month and found […]