FE colleges face growing pressure to help students move more quickly into jobs, and short, professional courses (or micro-credentials) offer a practical way to support that.
This heralds a change in the market for colleges such as College of West Anglia, catering both for 16-18-year-olds and adults needing to balance work, home life and upskilling/re-skilling.
Short courses are flexible, easy to build into existing programmes and focused on the skills employers want. They also appeal to a wider range of learners, from adults retraining to younger students wanting more than academic results.
This shift is shaped both by employer demand and government reforms such as the lifelong learning entitlement and local skills improvement plans, placing a stronger focus on employability. Professional courses based on best practice originally developed by the government – like ITIL for IT management and PRINCE2 for project management – complement this agenda, helping colleges deliver better learner outcomes.
For example, Blackpool and Fylde College – as part of consolidating its business school offering and expanding its client base in the healthcare, local authority, defence and small business sectors – has added both tutor-led and self-paced PRINCE2 courses to its portfolio.
The demand that the college is seeing for project management skills means it is responding to the wider skills agenda and providing something that enhances leadership and management practice.
And with so much uncertainty in FE, short courses allow the college to be more agile, reaching learners online in the North West beyond its Blackpool base and delivering income cost effectively with low risk.
Employer requirements
Employers are rethinking what they value, with practical skills, problem solving and real-world experience often judged more important than academic background alone. And colleges are adapting to meet this demand.
Many now work directly with employers to shape courses that match skills needs, while government policy encourages stronger links between education and the labour market, with a focus on retraining, progression and routes into work.
In the College of West Anglia’s case, including ITIL among its IT and computing courses and certifications has had a dual impact on the college’s learner and employer community, in a geographical area experiencing digital poverty and needing better social mobility.
The college innovated by embedding ITIL into its existing T-level in digital support. It wanted students to be useful during their entire employer placement, and mixing Cisco networking, ITIL and practical skills with the T-level prepared them for the work they would do if employed.
Placing some of the T-level student cohort with global employers has given them a real-world taste of future work – and their added usefulness has led to interest in employing them full-time when the course is finished.
Transferring professional practice
Professional courses help strengthen what colleges offer, as they are based on real workplace practice; using the same tools, language and methods experienced and qualified professionals use every day.
This makes the learning more relevant and – as the experience of College of West Anglia students shows – gives young learners early exposure to the expectations of working environments.
For learners, it is not just about knowledge. These courses help build confidence and critical thinking through applied learning. Students engage with real scenarios and case studies, gaining skills they can use immediately.
Taking on a professional qualification alongside a main course of study also signals something important. It shows commitment and initiative, telling employers that the student is serious about their development and future career.
For colleges, it provides skills and competencies without needing to redesign the whole curriculum – adding recognised value and supporting goals around progression and employability.
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