With no blueprint for this unprecedented pandemic, colleges are coming up with their own solutions to help international students who find them stuck halfway around the world from their friends and family.

Colleges have earned the gratitude of international students and parents for “going the extra mile” by sheltering those stuck in England during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Students like Anatolli and Andrew Filippov, both 22 and from Dudley College, who attempted to return home to Siberia in Russia last month – only to have their flights cancelled when the Russian government closed its borders.

The twin brothers have been isolated at their accommodation at Dudley ever since, supported by the college’s international team.

Despite the situation he and his brother find themselves in, Anatolli says they are not stressed as they have money for rent and food for another two to three weeks – by which time Russia is expected to have reopened its borders.

“It’s a difficult situation across the world and our situation is not horrible,” he said, whereas a lot of people “do not have the comfortable conditions which we have.”

Anatolli came to the West Midlands college to study an English for speakers of other language (ESOL) course as he always wanted to learn about English culture and its language and wants to work for an international company, perhaps in construction, once he returns to Russia.

The brothers have already had a listening and speaking exam in February, which Anatolli passed with full marks, though, he says, Andrew did a “little bit worse”.

He hopes to return home in May, but has been keeping in touch with his mother, his girlfriend and his friends via Skype.

Dudley College also has 22 learners from China studying motor vehicle programmes. They are either staying with host families or in halls of residence that they share with international students from the University of Wolverhampton.

“All are in supportive communities throughout this difficult time and are able to reassure their families back home of their safety,” a college spokesperson said.

A group of fashion and photography staff and students from Dudley who took part in an international exchange in India in March of this year were able to return to the UK without issue.

This is a particularly stressful time for individuals to be so far away from their loved ones

But Anatolli, Andrew and the Chinese students will have to cope with being away from their families during these unprecedented and dangerous times.

They are just a few of the thousands of international students studying at an FE college in England who have been affected by the virus, who also serve as an example of how colleges, like Dudley, are having to pull out all the stops in reacting to a situation for which there is no blueprint.

Dudley’s principal, Neil Thomas, said their “primary concern” for international students is to “help them stay safe and well”, and they appreciate “this is a particularly stressful time for individuals to be so far away from their loved ones”, so the colleges’ counselling and support services have been kept active supporting them.

In some cases, the international students being supported by a college are not even theirs: over the Easter break, Chichester College Group put up students from the Falklands Islands, who had been studying at another college, in their halls of residence for free. This was after the learners could not get a flight back home and the provider they were studying at had no accommodation to offer them.

The college went the extra mile for our son and the rest of the Falkland Island students

After these students eventually made it home, one parent (who did not wish to be named) gave their “heartfelt” thanks to the college for “going the extra mile for our son and the rest of the Falkland Island students”.

“It is a challenging time for everyone and I am sure it has been well recognised that the team put the students above all else to provide them with stability in a fast-changing situation.”

Chichester’s director of international Sarah Watson called it “a highly unusual time for all of us”, but said the biggest challenge for the students was “the uncertainty of how or when they would be able to return home”.

“Our team worked hard to provide individual support to our students to make this process as simple as possible,” she continued.

“We have found that providing flexibility and extra levels of support during this time has helped to significantly reduce the anxiety of our students and of parents while their children have been overseas.”

Hartpury College in Gloucestershire had found the “biggest issue” for their international students, of which it has 215 enrolled, were flight cancellations, a spokesperson said.

Twenty of the college’s international cohort had to stay on campus during the Easter break “due to the restrictions in place in their home countries”.

They were supported by a small staff team, including residential wardens, who helped students collect prescriptions and essential supplies, as well as aiding their mental wellbeing. The wardens checked on students daily, and made themselves available for a socially distanced chat “with those who may be finding it difficult to be overseas and separated from their families at this time”.

The spokesperson said the campus dog Ralph was also on hand for walks and a Facebook community page was established to give students the opportunity to “stay active, stay positive and remain part of the Hartpury community”.

The Association of Colleges’ international director Emma Meredith said colleges “have been doing everything they can” to support international students, and moved “incredibly quickly” to provide online learning and support measures, such as checking in with local hosts the students stay with.

“For everybody, the coronavirus pandemic is extremely worrying and we should not forget that there are young people in our colleges who are sitting this out far away from home,” she said.

The team put students above all else to provide them with stability in a fast-changing situation

Their experience, and that of their providers, has been made slightly easier by the Home Office temporarily relaxing the rules around student visas. So, for instance, the government will not take enforcement action against students who are not able to attend their studies for 60 days or more because of Covid-19; and providers will not need to report student absences.

Meredith said she was “grateful” for the “significant” concessions, which would provide “short-term reassurance” for students and providers.

But, she said, in the longer term there will “definitely be disruption and a financial impact to the international contracts and projects colleges had planned”.

Support staff at Sheffield College will see a salary increase as high as 18 per cent from May as leaders agree to pay all workers the real living wage “for the first time”.

Trade union Unison has negotiated a deal that will see the college now pay a minimum rate of £9.30 an hour, which is above the £8.72 national living wage for workers aged 25 and above.

The real living wage was devised by charity the Living Wage Foundation, and a total of 133 non-teaching workers at Sheffield College, including cleaners, cleaning supervisors and estate staff, are set to benefit.

Around 400 of the college’s support staff, some of whom work at subsidiary companies, will also see their consolidated pay increase by at least 2.75 per cent.

Unison’s Yorkshire and Humber area organiser Jordan Stapleton said many of the lowest paid employees will see their pay increase by up to £2,805, or 18.6 per cent, “after years of bearing the brunt of austerity policies designed to slash costs”.

This two-year deal, over 2018-19 and 2019-20, comes after the union had organised a strike at Sheffield College in November over changes to administrative staff contracts.

Unison had not balloted for fresh strike action but was in a formal dispute with Sheffield College over performance-related pay. Unions have to formally register a dispute to take industrial action.

It has been agreed that performance pay will be removed for lower pay grades, and a commitment has been made to discuss the future of performance pay, including phasing it out for all staff.

The union has argued that performance pay can have a negative effect on staff, by making them focus on competing for pay awards, rather than supporting teamwork and better service delivery.

Several of the college’s pay grades have also been adjusted, with staff at each level seeing their pay increase.

At a minimum, consolidated pay has increased by 2.75 per cent for 2018-19 and 2019-20 and staff will receive a non-consolidated pay-off of one per cent.

The college already awarded staff a one per cent pay rise last November, and this further raise will be paid in May 2020.

Owing to it being a two-year deal, parts of the increase will be backdated to February 2019 and parts will be backdated to February 2020.

Sheffield College generated a £1.3 million operating deficit in 2019, but its financial health is rated as ‘good’ by the Education & Skills Funding Agency.

Paul Simpson, the college’s executive director of human resources and organisation development, said they are “confident” the pay award is sustainable, owing to the college having budgeted for it and because of its financial health.

He added that “investing in our staff is the right thing to do” and is “vital to achieving our strategic ambition of being an employer of choice in our region”.

The raise will also affect workers at the college’s other businesses: Sparks Managed Services Ltd, where 128 employees will benefit, and Sparks Services Ltd, where 18 employees working in areas such as marketing and learner recruitment will receive the uplift.

Universities are still planning to offer the MBA in the level 7 senior leader apprenticeship, despite the qualification being axed from the programme.

Earlier this month the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education launched a consultation on a revised version of the standard which scrapped all references to MBAs.

The apprenticeships quango said that requiring a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in the level 7 senior leader standard would no longer “meet the intent of our policy on mandated qualifications”.

It followed the education secretary Gavin Williamson’s request for a review of the popular programme, who said he was “unconvinced” it provides value for money.

However, the institute has this week confirmed to FE Week that providers would still be allowed to offer the MBA as a non-mandatory qualification, though costs for qualification registration, certification and any training not directly related to the standard would not be fundable from the levy.

The MBA will always remain a key part of our programme

An employer could choose to pay these costs out of their own pocket to enable their apprentice to acquire the qualification in addition to passing the apprenticeship via the end-point assessment.

Aston University, which has recruited almost 300 people on to the standard since its launch in February 2018, said the removal of the MBA component “does not mean we would automatically remove the MBA from our senior leader offer”.

A spokesperson added they would determine with the apprentice employers “if the most valuable vehicle for a level 7 senior leader programme remains an MBA qualification”.

“Then we would be keen to include it.”

But they said it was too early to say with certainty whether they would charge any additional fees.

The Henley Business School, which runs the senior leader programme for the University of Reading and has had 226 starts to date, said: “The Henley MBA will always remain a key part of our programme” – hinting that option will remain open for employers.

But, as the IfATE’s consultation is still live, the university’s spokesperson said they were “unable to comment on what changes we will make to our programme until the new standard and assessment plan is finalised”.

Many other universities, such as Exeter, Portsmouth, Liverpool John Moores, the Open University, and the biggest MBA provider – Cranfield University – all told FE Week they will wait until the standard is finalised before making any changes to their programme.

The University of Bradford launched a last-ditch recruitment drive for MBA apprentices last month as a result of the government’s review into the standard.

A spokesperson from the university told FE Week that they are “aware that this will be removed in future”, however, the “final version is not yet approved to affect existing delivery”.

The university will “engage in a review of our level 7 apprenticeship provision when the full, confirmed details of the new standard are published”.

The government’s review of the standard is planned to conclude by June 1.

The IfATE told FE Week that as the changes to the occupational standard and end-point assessment plan are likely to be “significant”, they expect to consider the funding band, which currently sits at £18,000.

The senior leader apprenticeship has proven extremely popular since its launch in February 2018. FE Week analysis shows it had 6,387 starts on the programme up to the first quarter of 2019-20.

As each of these attracted up to £18,000 of levy funding – it means as much as £115 million has been spent on this standard to date.

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MoJ ploughs ahead with £2m tender for MBA apprentices

A government department is ploughing ahead with a £2 million hunt for MBA apprentices to “enhance social mobility” despite the qualification being axed from apprenticeships.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is tendering for providers to deliver the level 7 senior leader degree apprenticeship with an attached Masters of Business Administration or Masters of Science.

That’s despite the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education removing the MBA component following a review called for by education secretary Gavin Williamson.

The MoJ told FE Week it was aware of this, but as “no changes have been made” officially yet, they will continue to recruit MBA apprentices.

The Department for Education said that while the review is under way, it is up to providers and employers to decide how to recruit and promote apprenticeship standards.

The ministry wants to deliver the MBA apprenticeship because, the tender document says, “senior leadership capability is a key priority for the department and there is currently no apprenticeship on offer to fill this learning gap”.

Offering the apprenticeships will “enhance the MoJ social mobility strategy by allowing employees who did not attend university to gain higher-level qualifications while in the workplace”.

Applicants for the MoJ tender have been asked to submit bids by April 30.

Freddie Whittaker meets Rebecca Long-Bailey, Labour’s new shadow education secretary

The lack of an “overarching message” from Labour on its flagship national education service (NES) was one of the reasons it lost the last general election, says the new shadow education secretary.

But Rebecca Long-Bailey says the “fantastic” policy will survive and be developed by Labour under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

She has pledged to “flesh out the detail” in the “next few years”.

A flagship policy of Jeremy Corbyn, the party’s former leader, the service was an umbrella term for a free “cradle-to-grave” education that had no tuition fees. It also pledged to replace Ofsted.

But although elements of the policy were extensively covered in the media and seemed to reach voters, many felt the overall vision did not hit home.

“There are a number of reasons as to why we lost, we know that, but one of the reasons is that we didn’t have that overarching message that explained to people what the national education service was for and what a Labour government was for,” said Long-Bailey in an exclusive interview with FE Week’s sister paper FE Week.

But the former party leadership candidate believes the NES was key policy “for a reason”, adding that that the coronavirus crisis has highlighted the “huge role” schools, colleges and training providers play in society.

“If we’re going to make sure that we don’t just see social mobility, the odd few climbing the ladder and doing very well for themselves, but everybody rising up and realising their potential, then we’ve got to have a cradle-to-grave national education service that means education is a right for all.”

Long-Bailey’s first task before she can flesh out Labour’s education policies is to hold the government to account for its coronavirus response.

She believes “clearer” communication is needed about plans to reopen schools and colleges, and warns of “a lot of concern”
among staff about a rushed return.

And in terms of training providers, she says the DfE’s response to support them financially has been inadequate – especially their latest announcement, that levy-funded apprenticeships will not be eligible for supplier relief.

“The Association of Employment and Learning Providers has raised the alarm about this and I understand that they’re seeking legal advice on the government’s action, because they believe that the grounds to exclude those providers isn’t justified.

“By being a levy provider, you would have a direct contract [with the ESFA] in any event through that system.

“So I think the government does need to address this very, very quickly because there are a number of training providers who now really are worried about not just what’s going to happen over the next few months, but they’re worried about whether they’re actually viable over the next week.”

Long-Bailey says training providers are going to be “essential in our economic recovery”, so it’s an “incredibly worrying” time for them.

Colleges are calling on Ofqual to relax plans for ranking GCSE students within each grade this summer, as doing so for hundreds across different campuses would be “impractical”.

A number that spoke to FE Week expressed fear that it would produce “inaccurate” results and put thousands of learners at a “disadvantage”.

The exams regulator is currently consulting on the proposal, which was revealed last month as part of the standardised assessment process that will replace cancelled exams due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Schools and colleges are being asked to provide both a centre grade in each subject for each student and a rank order of pupils within each grade.

Ofqual says the rank order will help determine which students move between grades during the standardisation process, which will be run by exam boards in order to ensure that students are not disadvantaged by “generous or severe” assessment.

Jeanne Rogers, vice principal for quality teaching and learning at the Luminate Education Group, told FE Week that she is not “confident in the legitimacy and accuracy of a ranking process, where hundreds of students would have to be placed in order with potentially little or no distinguishable evidence between them”.

Her group, which encompasses five colleges including Leeds City, has almost 8,900 GCSE entries from 5,520 students this summer who are taught by almost 100 teachers.

“Our main concern is that any largescale ranking will place some students at a disadvantage,” Rogers said.

“Take our GCSE maths, for example: one campus might have 800 maths students, in 60 groups, across five departments, assessed by ten teachers. Two teachers in each department will rank their 150 students, with direct experience of the comparable features of performance, giving them a good degree of confidence.

“They then have to join four other departments to merge the rankings and that’s where you will inevitably see some students being moved down in the rank order, as a consequence of sheer volume and the necessity to give each a unique rank.”

Rogers added that if 200 students were to share a grade in any one campus, there will be “clusters” within that grade, where there is “little in the evidence base to distinguish between them”.

While this is a challenge that Luminate will “take on, for the sake of each student”, they hope Ofqual will adjust the plan so that it allows for the ranking of students in smaller cohorts of around 150 – which would be equitable to a year 11 cohort in schools.

Birmingham Metropolitan College shares similar concerns. The group, made up of three colleges, has almost 4,000 GCSE students taught by 50 teachers.

A spokesperson said that ranking this high number will be “very challenging logistically. We would like flexibility in the ranking and have voiced this as part of the consultation,” they added.

Meanwhile, NCG has 80 GCSE teachers teaching around 4,000 students across its seven colleges.

A spokesperson described ranking hundreds of learners within the same grade band as a “key challenge”.

“For example, we know from the DfE progress measures that nationally, and at NCG, the majority of 16-to-18-year-old learners stay at the same grade, so, given that the annual distribution of learners is heavily centred around grade three, for all colleges, no matter the size, this will be hundreds of learners at different ages, from different departments having to be ranked,” she added.

“Getting this right, particularly at the proportional grade boundaries, will require some real care and attention.”

Their concerns have been echoed by their counterparts across the country, according to the Association of Colleges.

The membership organisation’s draft response to Ofqual’s consultation said colleges are “concerned” about a single-centre ranking for all candidate grades, which is not “necessary” and nor would it provide “any additional degree of accuracy”.

“Under the current circumstances, moderating student grades across a large team and across campuses is not practical.”

The AoC, like the Luminate Education Group, suggests that it should be possible to submit rankings either by teacher or in smaller groupings of around 150 instead.

Ofqual’s consultation closes on April 29.

The cut-off date for starts on old-style apprenticeships, known as frameworks, could be extended, the chief operating officer of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education has said.

In a webinar hosted by the Association of Colleges this afternoon, Rob Nitsch revealed that work on prolonging the switch beyond 31 July is already underway.

“Yes, in a nutshell”, he said when asked whether it would “make sense” to extend the date.

“We have done a bit of work on this. It is interesting across different sectors – some are very well set up, they have left frameworks behind but there are a couple of other sectors where that conversion hasn’t fully happened.

“There is a discussion to be had and I know there is consideration of what is the best thing to do in that space.

“That is where it sits at the moment, voices are being heard and it is currently being weighed as an issue.”

Nitsch added that the government is “absolutely committed” to the turn off of frameworks as their employer-designed replacement, known as standards, are “widely acknowledged as the better product, they are where the future is”.

The process of closing old-style apprenticeship frameworks to new starts began in March 2016, and the original intention was to switch them all off by August 2017.

But this cut-off was dropped at the end of 2015, and replaced with a “migration from apprenticeship frameworks to standards over the course of the parliament”.

The government’s current plan is for all apprenticeship starts to be on standards from 1 August 2020.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief policy officer, Simon Ashworth, said a postponement on this is a “no-brainer”.

“The IfATE position makes a great deal of sense to us and in our view, we should be seeking a delay in the switch-off until March next year,” he told FE Week.

“When the pandemic is over, employers and providers are going to have more than enough on their plate to support a recovery than to be worrying about this.”

A spokesperson for the IfATE said any decision “regarding possible change to the turnoff date for frameworks” is “for the Department for Education to make, taking into consideration a wide range of factors”.

Apprenticeships with small businesses funded via an employer transfer or that have recently transitioned onto the government’s digital system will not be eligible for supplier relief.

The Department for Education confirmed this afternoon that the support, details of which are expected to be unveiled later this week, will only apply to non-levy apprenticeships where a provider holds an Education and Skills Funding Agency funding allocation.

It means that any starts with small businesses via the digital apprenticeship system – for both employer transferred funds and the transition period that launched in January – will be ineligible.

Transfer funding, where large employers share unused funds, was launched in April 2018 and small employers began transitioning onto the digital system in January of this year.

The confirmation comes after DfE minister Gillian Keegan revealed that more than 1,000 apprenticeship providers that only train levy-paying employers, through the digital system, will not be eligible for supplier relief support.

In a letter to MPs she said that the relief will “not apply in relation to apprenticeships funded from employer digital accounts where the contractual relationship is between the employer and the provider”.

The move has prompted a fierce reaction from the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, which has sought legal advice to challenge the decision.

The membership body’s board met yesterday agreed that Keegan’s letter “made it clear that the proposed support would only be available to providers in respect of apprenticeships offered by non-levy paying employers where providers hold ‘a direct contract’ with the Education and Skills Funding Agency”.

They unanimously agreed that the statement “ignores the fact that the levy is a tax as defined by the Finance Act 2016” and that levy-funded apprenticeships “also have a direct contract with the ESFA and so the DfE’s grounds for excluding relief for them were not justified”.

“Therefore the board has instructed AELP’s secretariat to immediately seek formal legal advice on whether the department is still failing to comply with the Cabinet Office guidance to which the minister’s letter refers,” a statement from the membership organisation said.

The DfE told FE Week that the Cabinet Office’s Procurement Policy Notice 02/20, which underpins their supplier relief scheme, applies only to circumstances where the service was procured under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and is being delivered under a contract for services.

A total of 593 providers currently have non-levy allocations amounting to £690 million, the contracts for which have recently been extended to cover the financial year 2020-21.

As well as non-levy apprenticeships funded through a “direct” ESFA contract, the support will be offered to adult education funding.

The Association of Employment and Learning Providers will seek formal legal advice to challenge the government’s decision to exclude over 1,000 apprenticeship providers from the Covid-19 supplier relief scheme.

Earlier today, FE Week revealed that a letter to MPs from minister Gillian Keegan said that their upcoming financial support will “not apply in relation to apprenticeships funded from employer digital accounts where the contractual relationship is between the employer and the provider”.

The AELP’s board met this afternoon agreed the letter “made it clear that the proposed support would only be available to providers in respect of apprenticeships offered by non-levy paying employers where providers hold ‘a direct contract’ with the Education and Skills Funding Agency”.

They unanimously agreed that the statement “ignores the fact that the levy is a tax as defined by the Finance Act 2016” and that levy-funded apprenticeships “also have a direct contract with the ESFA and so the DfE’s grounds for excluding relief for them were not justified”.

“Therefore the board has instructed AELP’s secretariat to immediately seek formal legal advice on whether the department is still failing to comply with the Cabinet Office guidance to which the minister’s letter refers,” a statement from the membership organisation said.

The DfE told FE Week that the Cabinet Office’s Procurement Policy Notice 02/20, which underpins their supplier relief scheme, applies only to circumstances where the service was procured under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 and is being delivered under a contract for services.

As reported by this newspaper earlier, there are currently more than 1,000 apprenticeship providers that only train apprentices from levy-paying employers and will therefore not be eligible for supplier relief support from the DfE.

A total of 593 providers currently have non-levy allocations amounting to £690 million, the contracts for which have recently been extended to cover the financial year 2020-21.

The DfE is expected to set out further detail on their supplier relief measures and the criteria for accessing it at the end of this week.

More than 1,000 apprenticeship providers that only train levy-paying employers will not be eligible for supplier relief support from the Department for Education, minister Gillian Keegan has said.

In a letter to MPs dated 17 April, seen by FE Week, she confirmed the DfE will be introducing targeted financial relief measures “for those providers that need it”, but only where they “hold direct contracts with the Education and Skills Funding Agency”.

This includes adult education and non-levy apprenticeships, but not levy contracts held between providers and employers.

“This does not apply in relation to apprenticeships funded from employer digital accounts where the contractual relationship is between the employer and the provider,” Keegan wrote.

FE Week analysis shows there are 1,624 main and employer providers on the register of apprenticeship training providers currently, of which 593 have non-levy allocations this year amounting to £690 million.

That means there are 1,031 providers that only have access to levy funding, and are therefore not eligible for the supplier relief.

Keegan told MPs that the extra targeted support, being offered due to the coronavirus crisis, is to “enable high-quality providers to remain active where that is still possible and safe”.

She will set out further detail on these measures and the criteria for accessing the financial relief this week.

“In doing so we will ensure that this support is targeted at those providers who need it, with proven track records for delivering quality training, and that it takes account of any wider support providers have accessed from HM Treasury or elsewhere,” Keegan said.

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Mark Dawe said that in the absence of published criteria so far, “we are concerned that the proposed ‘targeted support’ will involve some form of arbitrary selection of providers that may not be fair or justifiable”.

“The letter refers to enabling ‘high quality providers’ remaining active as a result of the promised support but how will the DfE define ‘high quality’?” he added.

“Full transparency is required.”