• Industrial strategy: what's missing is what matters

    Given the challenges the UK’s society and economy now faces, the industrial strategy is a rather small, faltering step, according to Professor Ewart Keep The industrial strategy, launched on a day when the UK media was obsessing about the engagement of the man fifth in line to the throne, did not appear trailing clouds of…

    15.30 Nov. 29th, 2017 | Opinion

  • £10m adult flexible learning fund launches

    Up to £10 million is now available to help providers develop new ways of supporting adults to progress or retrain, the Department for Education has announced. The flexible learning fund, launched today, is part of a £40 million package piloting new approaches to lifelong learning that were announced in this year’s spring budget. The pilot…

    15.01 Oct. 31st, 2017 | News

  • Institutes of technology £170m windfall going to existing providers

    The extra £170 million the government has promised to set aside for a new wave of “prestigious” institutes of technology will go to existing providers, FE Week can reveal. The title will in effect work as a badge of honour given to specially chosen FE providers that excel at higher-level technical education, like the old…

    13.00 Jan. 29th, 2017 | News

  • Cable delighted with industrial strategy commitment to adult education

    The former secretary of state for business, innovation and skills has told FE Week he is “delighted” that the government’s industrial strategy green paper places a serious focus on improving adult education, in an exclusive interview. The new document out on January 23 acknowledged a “growing challenge” with training for older people. It committed to…

    19.20 Jan. 26th, 2017 | News

  • Industrial strategy? FE needs proper funding

    Government’s ‘new industrial strategy’ is another grandiose vision that lacks funding and changes nothing in practice, says Sally Hunt. When it comes to government policy on further education, things move at a fast and furious rate. Initiatives arrive like buses, a few at a time, and usually revolve around fixing the mess the last lot…

    17.04 Jan. 25th, 2017 | Opinion

  • Breaking: Industrial strategy green paper explains plan for Institutes of Technology 'in all areas'

    The government’s new industrial strategy green paper has fleshed out what it expects from a “prestigious” new network of Institutes of Technology, set to be handed £170 million to improve higher-level technical education nationwide. The government first announced plans for the institutes in July 2015, then again through its Post-16 Skills Plan in July. The Prime Minister’s…

    13.24 Jan. 23rd, 2017 | News

  • Institutes of Technology are the right idea; now we must make sure they deliver

    Today’s announcement confirms that technical education should be at the heart of the UK’s modern industrial strategy. This is crucial, as only with an adequate skills strategy can we respond to the needs of industry at the same time as we help equip learners with the skills in demand from local employers. Getting technical education…

    16.15 Jan. 23rd, 2017 | Opinion