A college exploring merger options has used a multi-million-pound exit dividend from an international venture to make a staff pay award and to repay a government bailout.

Portsmouth-based Highbury College signed up to the Saudi Arabian Colleges of Excellence programme in 2013 and launched the International Technical Female College in Jeddah, a female vocational training institute run in partnership with Burton and South Derbyshire College.

But Highbury, which parachuted in an interim principal and chair last year after it was hit by an expenses scandal and was placed in formal FE Commissioner intervention, has now “stepped away” from the international project in favour of developing collaborations closer to home.

As part of an agreement that will now see the overseas programme solely managed by Burton and South Derbyshire College, Highbury was handed a £3.5 million financial dividend on October 19.

The amount will go towards repaying the government a £1.5 million emergency bailout that was granted to Highbury earlier this year after its new leaders discovered the college had run out of cash just a month after taking over.

As well as using the remaining funds to invest in the college’s IT resources, staff – excluding interim management – who had not received a pay award for “several” years were given a flat rate and pro-rata £300 “honorarium” payment.

Minutes from a board meeting in July 2020, which said the pay award would only be possible once withdrawal from the Saudi venture was agreed, state that the payment should act to recognise the “hard work of staff” during the Covid-19 pandemic and “considerable turbulence in the past two years, resulting in much adverse publicity”.

Commenting on the decision to withdraw from the Saudi venture, interim principal Penny Wycherley said: “This is an important step for the college and demonstrates our commitment to investing in our local students and the future of Portsmouth.

“We’d like to thank Burton and South Derbyshire College for their partnership and support and wish them all the best for the future.”

A Burton and South Derbyshire College spokesperson confirmed they will “continue to operate in Saudi Arabia through our highly successful privately registered company, Highbury Burton Saudi Arabia”.

The spokesperson added: “We would like to thank current and, in particular, past leaders of Highbury College, Portsmouth for their insight, leadership and contribution to this excellent example of the UK effectively exporting high-quality technical education.”

Colleges of Excellence was founded seven years ago to boost technical and vocational education and training in Saudi Arabia through partnerships with international providers.

But a number of providers dropped out of the programme early on as challenges with operating in the region became apparent.

An FE Week investigation in 2016 uncovered grave financial problems at some of the colleges taking part. Colleges were later warned off overseas ventures following the collapse of AoC India, which fell just four years after launching when 25 UK college members quit.

Highbury also attempted to run a technical education project in Nigeria some years ago, but this failed and the college is still in a legal battle to recover £1.4 million that it claims to be owed.

Earlier this week the college announced that Martin Doel, an ex-chief executive of the Association of Colleges who was appointed interim chair of Highbury almost a year ago, has now been replaced by board member and businessman Paul Quigley on a permanent basis.

Interim principal Wycherley has agreed to stay on until August 2021.

The decisions come as the college continues a structure and prospects appraisal with FE Commissioner Richard Atkins. While there is currently no deadline for the appraisal’s conclusion, the college told FE Week that “all options” are being considered, including merger.

Highbury’s former chair Tim Mason and principal Stella Mbubaegbu stepped down in late 2019 after FE Week revealed how £150,000 was spent on Mbubaegbu’s corporate college card in four years, including extravagant items such as numerous first-class flights, stays in five-star hotels, a boozy lobster dinner and a £434 pair of designer headphones.

Around the same time the college had to make redundancies, scrap its A-level provision and dropped from Ofsted ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’.

Coronavirus and “unnecessary delays” by the exams regulator have been blamed for disrupting the roll out of free, government-developed, basic IT qualifications for adults.

Despite the August launch date for the “entitlement”, which covers fully funded digital skills courses at entry and level 1, qualifications watchdog Ofqual revealed last week it had forced all but one awarding organisation to resubmit plans.

It has been four years since the Department for Education first announced, with great fanfare, it would develop and fully fund new Essential Digital Skills Qualifications (EDSQs) through the adult education budget.

But in the past year many awarding organisations, including education giants Pearson and OCR, and the body responsible for standards in the IT industry, BCS The Chartered Institute for IT, have either walked away from the opportunity or failed to gain approval to accredit them.

Skills minister Gillian Keegan stressed to parliament during a debate on Wednesday the importance of basic courses like those under the digital entitlement, which she called “key”.

Yet so far just EDSQs developed by Gateway Qualifications have been signed off for delivery.

A further nine are still going back and forth as part of a “technical evaluation process” with Ofqual.

Speaking to FE Week the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on digital skills, Sunderland Central MP Julie Elliott, urged the government to press ahead on this with speed and to “use every avenue available to it to upskill workers and provide effective and accessible adult education, sooner rather than later.

“As unemployment rises, and more and more jobs require baseline digital skills, they are no longer just key skills, but essential ones,” she said.

Ofqual has argued that the hold-up is not due to them, instead saying that these have been “difficult times for awarding organisations, some of which have furloughed staff and all of which have had to work incredibly hard, in unprecedented times, to ensure the safe delivery of results this summer; and to plan that for next summer”.

However, one of the awarding organisations, The Learning Machine, has hit out at the watchdog.

Managing director Rosemary Lynch said: “It would have been more helpful if we could have had a more open, iterative dialogue with Ofqual.”

Lynch added this would have avoided “many small inconsequential misunderstandings” which could have been “easily answered” during the preliminary technical evaluation, and better dialogue would also have prevented “unnecessary delay in making these much-needed qualifications available at this very important time for those desperately needing improved IT skills”.

Furthermore, major exam board OCR has withdrawn its submission for EDSQs, with a spokesperson saying they have decided to instead focus on supporting existing IT qualifications where “funding has been extended”.

BCS has also hit a few bumps in the EDSQ approval process. Lucy Ireland, managing director for institute member group BCS Learning and Development, said they expect to launch the “for work” set later this autumn, but no timescale for sign-off has been given to “for work”.

NOCN is another awarding organisation working on Ofqual approval but told FE Week it had been “busy for the last few months” with the centre-assessed grading system introduced for assessments this summer, as well as other matters such as remote invigilation and the reformed functional skills qualifications.

“For this reason, we have had to prioritise our resource elsewhere,” the spokesperson continued.

“We have been looking at developing our Essential Digital Skills offer over the past month and have been working closely with Ofqual to fully understand their requirements and expectations for these qualifications before we resubmit.”

The lack of progress is a blow for the DfE, which has pushed to make digital skills as important as English and maths skills, going so far as to enshrine the entitlement to these fully funded courses in law, with the 2017 Digital Economy Act.

From August the ESFA will pay an unweighted base rate of £300 each for the qualifications funded from the adult education budget.

The demand for these qualifications is expected to be “high”, according to Gateway Qualifications director of business development Paul Saunders.

He told FE Week their qualifications went live on August 1, as planned, and interest in them has been “significant right across England, including all provider types”.

In contrast to The Learning Machine, Saunders said Ofqual had been “very rigorous”, with communication “very good… It was not a painful process; it was a supportive process.”

Things could be looking brighter for the rollout of more EDSQs, with NCFE saying their qualifications are “very close” to completing the process and they anticipate approval will be “imminent”.

“We are ready to implement our go to market strategy as soon as this happens, with a focus on adults within the communities we operate, addressing the digital generation gap which not only remains wide open but has been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic.”

And Pearson said it would hope to have their qualifications available by the end of the year.

The final awarding organisation still working on approval, OCN London, did not provide a comment.

A DfE spokesperson said Covid-19 has had a “significant impact” on approving these qualifications and they expect other awarding organisations to have qualifications approved “over the coming months”.

A teaching union has accused the government of putting staff and student safety “at risk” by keeping colleges open during November’s national lockdown and called for campuses to close “wherever possible”.

But one principal has defended Whitehall’s decision, claiming that colleges have now been made Covid-secure and the emotional impact of isolation is more profound than the virus.

On Thursday, the Department for Education published updated guidance for delivering FE on the eve of the new month-long national restrictions that will be in place from November 5 until December 2.

The guidance told colleges and training providers to continue to deliver “the majority of education on site” for 16-to-19-year-olds during the lockdown unless they have had written public health advice to move some of this age group to remote teaching, in which case the department should be informed.

For adults, the DfE has told providers to “consider moving to online teaching where possible to do so while still achieving educational objectives”. But, where adult education needs to continue on site to enable access to equipment, or where students cannot access remote delivery, this “can continue in a Covid-secure way”.

The University and College Union hit out at the guidance, saying that the 16-to-19 age group has been demonstrated to be “as, if not more” likely to get infected by Covid-19 as other adults and should be “afforded the same protection”.

“UCU is now calling for all course delivery for young adults in further education to be moved online wherever possible during the lockdown in England,” the union’s head of further education Andrew Harden told FE Week.

“This has not been an easy decision to take but the health and safety of students and staff and their communities must come first.”

He also called on ministers to “match” the commitment of staff to their students by providing colleges with “the extra funding they need to create and resource Covid-safe spaces and extra support for those students who for whatever reason are unable to effectively continue their learning remotely”.

In an FE Week investigation in June, college leaders warned of spiralling Covid-19 safety costs – with many having to fork out hundreds of thousands of pounds on items such as personal protective equipment, hand sanitiser, signage, shields and temperature guns. The Association of Colleges previously called for a £70 million government fund to ease these budget pressures.

Responding to the UCU’s call for colleges to close during November, Ali Hadawi, the principal of Central Bedfordshire College, said it is “vital to strike a balance between the emotional wellbeing of staff and students and their safety in relation to Covid-19”.

“It is critically important to create a safe learning and working environment, which we have done by working collaboratively with staff and student groups,” he continued.

“However, the emotional impact of isolation on learners, especially young people and the most vulnerable, and staff, is more profound than the anxiety in relation to Covid-19. Evidence from learner and staff feedback, as well as their attendance and retention, supports this fact.”

AoC chief executive David Hughes said colleges are doing “all that they can” to protect staff and students and are “continuously monitoring and adapting to changes – often at speed, with no precedent, and at great cost”.

He concurred with Hadawi’s comments that it is “good for students’ mental health and for their social wellbeing” to continue learning on site.

Hughes added that the DfE’s guidance should give college leaders the “confidence that they are being trusted to make complex judgments and decisions that are best for their students and staff”.

The guidance also states that apprenticeships and other training in the workplace will “continue where those sectors remain open” but the DfE expects to see “particular impacts in hospitality and retail”.

It adds that face coverings must now be worn in the communal areas of secondary schools and FE providers in an extension of rules that will apply through the new lockdown.

Clinically extremely vulnerable young people, adults and staff have been advised not to attend college or their training provider while the national restrictions are in place.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “We must put the interests of our children and young people first, especially when the benefits of being in the classroom are clear.

“Education is a national priority and we cannot allow it to be disrupted again.”

The government’s much-anticipated traineeships tender received 370 bids – a fraction of the number that had been anticipated by some in the sector.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency finally launched the bidding process for 19-to-24 traineeship funding on October 7, which was run on an “accelerated” timetable with a deadline for bids set for just three weeks later.

Up for grabs initially is a slice of £65 million to be spent between February and July 31, 2021, which will be split across nine regions in England – ranging from £20.8 million for London providers to just £2.6 million for the south-west.

The bidding window closed on October 28 and the ESFA has now told FE Week that 370 applications were received. The agency could not provide the total value being asked for at this stage.

Jim Carley, a tender specialist in the FE sector, previously said he expected “in excess of 3,000 bidders” based on the fact that the procurement did not have any provider eligibility criteria and the level of interest and oversubscription seen on previous ESFA procurements, such as the controversial non-levy tender.

Many eligible providers might have been put off applying owing to the minimum tender value, which was set at £250,000.

While providers were bidding for an initial £65 million in total to fund around 20,000 starts in the latter half of 2020-21, a further £315 million was made available to support continued delivery through to July 2023.

The traineeships tender is one way the government plans to triple the number of traineeships starts this year – as pledged by chancellor Rishi Sunak over the summer as part of his plan to combat youth unemployment following the coronavirus pandemic.

Employer cash incentives of £1,000 have also been made available, as has growth funding for providers to deliver 16-to-19 traineeships.

The ESFA intends to award contracts from the tender in January 2021.

Special measures that have enabled 25,000 apprentices to complete their end-point assessment during the Covid-19 pandemic will be retained until at least March 2021.

The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s chief executive Jennifer Coupland will tell delegates watching the Skills World Live Apprenticeships conference tomorrow that the extension has been granted in light of the new national restrictions that will run during November.

Apprenticeship assessments usually involve an element of face-to-face assessment, which was not possible due to movement and social distancing restrictions during lockdown.

Flexibilities have been introduced to 132 apprenticeship standards since the first lockdown in March 2020. The IfATE announced in July that the measures would remain in place until January 2021.

The flexibilities vary for each standard but can include using technology to conduct observations or professional discussions remotely and reordering assessment methods so that written tests or professional discussions can be taken now and the observation delivered later.

Coupland said that she recognises it will not be “business as usual” for all apprenticeships as many businesses temporarily close during November.

But where training can continue, “we would expect that providers will work as closely as possible with employers to make sure that apprentices who are on their programmes can continue to advance their off-the-job training during the month of lockdown and hopefully progress if they’re about to take an end-point assessment”.

“They will be able to take advantage of the flexibilities that the institute has put in place to enable those end-point assessments to happen even during lockdown,” she added.

“About 25,000 apprentices have managed to complete since lockdown. And we’re really confident that we’ve done that in a way that protects quality.

“So in light of this current, new lockdown, we have decided that it’s right to extend those flexibilities until the end of March to give people some certainty that that the existing regime will continue for the foreseeable future.”

Coupland said the institute will review this timeframe again in March.

Colleges and training providers should continue to deliver education for 16 to 19-year-olds on site during the new national lockdown, but have been told to move adult learners to online teaching where possible.

The Department for Education has this afternoon published its guidance for delivering FE this month ahead of the national restrictions set to be implemented from tomorrow until 2 December.

It confirms that further education settings will “remain open to on site delivery for the duration of the national restrictions”.

Face coverings should be worn by adults and students when “moving around the premises, outside of classrooms, in corridors and communal areas where social distancing cannot easily be maintained”.

For 16 to 19 study programmes, providers should “continue to seek to deliver the majority of education on site unless they have had written public health advice to move some groups to remote teaching”, in which case they should “inform their ESFA territorial team”.

And if there are “operational constraints which necessitate a greater proportion of online teaching”, providers should “discuss this with their ESFA territorial team directly or email FED.COVIDCENTRAL@education.gov.uk, ahead of any announcement”.

Providers have been told to preserve provision on site for learners who “need it”, including vulnerable learners, children of key workers and learners without access to devices/connectivity at home.

For adult education, the DfE is asking providers to “consider moving to online teaching where possible to do so while still achieving educational objectives”.

Where education needs to continue on site to enable access to equipment, or where students cannot access remote delivery, this “can continue in a Covid-secure way”.

The guidance also states that apprenticeships and other training in the workplace will “continue where those sectors remain open” but DfE expects to see “particular impacts in hospitality and retail”.

In terms of sport and physical education, this can continue “as part of education and training”.

Outdoor sports should however be “prioritised where possible, and large indoor spaces used where it is not, maximising distancing between consistent student groups and paying scrupulous attention to cleaning and hygiene and using maximum fresh air ventilation through either opening doors and windows or ventilation systems”.

Competition between different colleges should not take place, in line with the wider restrictions on grassroots sport.

For clinically extremely vulnerable young people, adults and staff, they are advised not to attend education whilst the national restrictions are in place.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “We must put the interests of our children and young people first, especially when the benefits of being in the classroom are clear.

“Education is a national priority and we cannot allow it to be disrupted again.”

A mother bullied out of school aged 13, and an agency which fights serious and organised crime nationwide are among those recognised at this year’s Festival of Learning awards. 

The awards, run by the Learning and Work Institute (LWI), recognise the inspiring stories of adult learners, and top-notch adult learning providers, tutors and employers. 

Skills minister Gillian Keegan congratulated all 12 winners, saying she hopes their stories “inspire and motivate others to kickstart their own learning journeys”. 

One such winner is Wiltshire mother Hannah Wilkins, chosen by LWI’s patron Princess Anne for the Patron’s Award, who completed over 20 different courses after being bullied out of school at the age of 13. 

The winner of the President’s Award, chosen by LWI president and former Department for Education director-general of lifelong learning Nick Stuart, was Positive People.  

A partnership of organisations run by social enterprise Pluss, Positive People helps unemployed adults in the south west, with a sister programme in west Yorkshire, develop life skills in areas such as digital technology. 

Brandon Layton has won this year’s Outstanding Individual award, as having found his education and potential were limited as an autistic teenager attending a specialist school, the judges said he transformed his life and his academic and career prospects at Derwentside College. 

The Learning for Health award has been won by Waltham Forest Adult Learning Service’s health and wellbeing programme. The project has created a range of creative learning courses focused on improving health, wellbeing and social welfare.  

The Employer award, supported by awarding organisation NOCN, has been won by the National Crime Agency, the body responsible for fighting serious and organised crime in the UK. 

The law enforcement organisation was recognised for their initial operational training programme, which provides learners with the knowledge, skills and experience to help fight crime through accredited flexible learning. 

Derby-based Evripides Evriviades has won the Tutor award, which is supported by the Education and Training Foundation. Evriviades has supported many vulnerable and marginalised people through “innovative, creative and functional” English and maths lessons, from entry to level 2. 

Warwickshire Police Inspector Paul Barnsley received the Learning for Work award, also supported by NOCN, after taking to his heart a course with North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire on understanding mental health while signed off work. He has since set up a number of new workplace initiatives to make the force more inclusive. 

Laura Dunn-Green overcame severe anxiety by taking part in a health and social care course run by City College Peterborough at a local care home and has now embarked on a career as a healthcare assistant, winning her this year’s New Directions award, supported by the Skills and Education Group. 

Rubi Naz has won the English Language Learning Award after having been motivated by her son, who was born with various medical conditions and has special education needs, to enrol at Tameside Adult and Community Learning Education to learn English. She is now supporting others in her community to improve theirs. 

A project delivered by social housing providers, Motiv8, has received the Project award for helping disadvantaged and vulnerable Greater Manchester adults access housing and benefits, as well as employment through CV and job-searching help. 

The Return to Learning Award, supported by adult education provider City Lit, has gone to Liz Collins, who, following a “traumatic” experience of education as a child, enrolled on an Introduction to Adult Social Care course with Islington Adult Community Learning and is now a support worker. 

The social impact award, supported by adult learning provider the WEA, has been awarded to a volunteer digital champion Phil Branigan, for running regular computer drop-in sessions at a sheltered housing scheme and supporting other volunteers through an online forum. 

Learning and Work Institute chief executive Stephen Evans said the winners of the awards, which are being held during England’s first Lifelong Learning Week, “show just how powerful learning can be and the difference that great tutors and learning providers can make.  

“I hope their stories help to inspire others to go into learning, and make the case for a renewed commitment to – and investment in – lifelong learning.” 

The awards ceremony is being broadcast live on LWI’s YouTube and Facebook pages from 6pm this evening. 

The full list of winners:

• Hannah Wilkins – Patron’s Award.
• Positive People – President’s Award.
• Brandon Layton – Outstanding Individual Award
• Health and Wellbeing Programme – Learning for Health Award
• National Crime Agency – Employer Award
• Evripides Evriviades – Tutor Award
• Paul Barnsley – Learning for Work Award
• Laura Dunn-Green – New Directions Award
• Rubi Naz – English Language Learning Award
• Motiv8 – Project Award
• Liz Collins – Return to Learning Award
• Phil Branigan – Social Impact Award

Top image caption: Front row – Hannah Wilkins, Evripides Evriviades, Brandon Layton, Health and wellbeing programme.

Second row – Laura Dunn-Green, Motiv8, Liz Collins, Paul Barnsley

Third row – National Crime Agency, Positive People Programme, Phil Branigan, Rubi Naz