• Just 7% of college principals are from a BAME background

    The number of colleges led by a non-white principal has fallen to a low of 7 per cent, new FE Week analysis has revealed. A number of initiatives to encourage and support Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) leadership have stalled in recent years and now three of the nine regions in England have no…

    9.30 Jul. 12th, 2019 | News

  • Hinds blames colleges as their share of apprenticeships slumps to 26 per cent

    Apprenticeships delivered by colleges fell to just 26 per cent last year, according to analysis by FE Week, and education secretary Damian Hinds has accused colleges of “not winning enough” funding. When asked by the education select committee last week about financial constraints within the FE sector, Hinds blamed colleges for failing to secure more…

    10.00 Jul. 5th, 2019 | News

  • NUS calls on colleges to do more to tackle student sexual harassment

    Colleges have been urged to develop more “robust” policies to tackle sexual harassment and violence, after a student survey found three quarters had an unwanted sexual experience. And in its first targeted research into sexual harassment and violence within further education, the National Union of Students found that, of the 75 per cent of female…

    12.00 Jun. 20th, 2019 | News

  • Revealed: The 17 colleges to share £2.5m in final strategic improvement funding round

    The names of final colleges set to share grants through a government fund designed to support struggling colleges have been announced. Skills minister Anne Milton today revealed that 17 colleges will share £2.5million in the third and last round of the strategic college improvement fund that was introduced in October 2017. The winners are: SCIF…

    0.01 Jun. 6th, 2019 | News

  • Former college staff get a chance to challenge FE Commissioner reports

    Former employees or governors criticised in FE commissioner reports can now read and challenge the report before it is published. Updated guidance on FE commissioner visits, released in April, explains how reports written by Richard Atkins’ team will shared ahead of publication. FE Week understands that Department for Education officials changed the policy on legal…

    11.01 May. 3rd, 2019 | News

  • Exclusive: AoC India to close after 25 colleges quit

    A college partnership network set up by the Association of Colleges to provide UK vocational education and training programmes to India is to close after losing over three quarters of its members. AoC India was established in 2012 as a partnership of 33 FE colleges, but after being left with just eight members this year…

    16.37 Oct. 20th, 2016 | News

  • How colleges can keep up with apprenticeship reforms

    If colleges wish to continue to deliver apprenticeships, they will need to adapt quickly, writes Teresa Frith We are sitting in the middle of a maelstrom of reform in apprenticeships. But what should be at the forefront of our minds is that whatever apprenticeships we provide, they must be high quality. We will be doing…

    14.00 Oct. 16th, 2016 | Opinion

  • First two national colleges open their doors to students

    The first two of five planned new government-backed national colleges have opened their doors to students, after £80 million was allocated by the government for their development. Apprenticeships and skills minister Robert Halfon was guest of honour at Tuesday’s official opening ceremony for the National College for Digital Skills, in Tottenham Hale. A spokesperson said…

    10.00 Oct. 15th, 2016 | News

  • Employers more satisfied with private training providers than colleges

    Private training providers will be patting themselves on the back this week, following Skills Funding Agency research that revealed they are significantly more popular with employers than general FE colleges. Training providers scored a massive 83.9 per cent for employer satisfaction according to the results of the latest SFA employer satisfaction survey, while colleges’ rating…

    10.23 Oct. 14th, 2016 | News

  • Bigger is better for sixth forms

    Size matters, at least when it comes to sixth forms – as FE Week discovered when we investigated the issues surrounding smaller providers. Mick Fletcher, an FE policy expert and the founder of Policy Consortium, insisted that the government decision to set the minimum number of students at 200 was “well-founded”. Smaller sixth forms “don’t…

    11.53 Sep. 23rd, 2016 | News