Issue 132 | October 2022

FE LIKELY TO BE FACING BUDGET CUTS – AGAIN

Having rescinded virtually every tax measure set by the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng in his ‘mini-budget’, Jeremy Hunt, the latest Chancellor, has gone further and warned that there will need to be cuts in departmental spending in order to reduce government borrowing and help ‘stabilise volatility’ in the financial markets. It has since been rumoured that government departments will to be asked to find savings of between 10% and 15% of their current capital budgets, and 2% in their revenue budgets. Mr Hunt also revised the government’s earlier plans for supporting businesses during the current energy price crisis after the current price guarantee ends next April. Instead, government support will be limited to those ‘most in need’ This policy change will also affect colleges. More details, including an Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) assessment of the changes, are due to be discussed in parliament on 31 October. However, following Rishi Sunak’s coronation as the third Prime Minister in less than 50 days, it is entirely possible that Mr Hunt’s proposals (who Mr Sunak has confirmed in his role as Chancellor) could be altered again before, or possibly after, then. What is certain is, that after having endured more than a decade of austerity cuts, colleges are now left facing the prospect of double-digit inflation and having to find the resources to meet unfunded pay awards. College leaders argue that FE budgets have already been cut to the bone and warn of sector wide protests and serious disruption if further budget cuts are imposed.

ALL CHANGE AT THE DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION (DFE) – AGAIN

Kit Malthouse has left his post as Secretary of State for Education in England. Mr Malthouse was appointed as Education Secretary last month by Liz Truss during her brief tenure as Prime Minister, meaning the sector will have a fifth secretary of state in four months. During his own brief period in office, he proposed that two new ‘elite’ vocational colleges should be established in the north of England ‘to rival Oxford and Cambridge’ as part of the government’s manifesto pledge to ‘level up’. He is the fourth person to hold the post in the two months to 25 October, (the third being Michelle Donelan, who resigned after just 36 hours) and the ninth to hold the post since the Conservatives were elected to office in 2010. He has been replaced by Gillian Keegan who, from 2020 to 2021, was Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills (and once was an apprentice herself). At the time of writing, there is no news on who assumes ministerial responsibilities for FE, HE, skills and apprenticeships.

DFE PUBLISHES 2020/21 16-18 STUDENT DESTINATION DATA

On 20 October, the DfE published its official statistics for 2020/21 on the destinations of students aged 16-18 on completing their studies in state funded  schools and colleges in England. A table encapsulating the trends in destination data over the period from 2017/18 to 2020/21 (reproduced under the Open Government Licence) is given in the table below:

Other than the first row of the table, the numbers shown are percentage figures.

The data shows that over the period:

• Although the number of students aged 16-18 completing their studies increased, fewer students overall entered ‘sustained’ education, apprenticeships or employment.
• Fewer students went into apprenticeships and employment mainly as a result of the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
• More students stayed with their 16-18 provider for a third year of study.
• More students progressed into higher education.

OFQUAL PUBLISHES GUIDANCE FOR GRADING OF EXAMS AND ASSESSMENTS FROM AUTUMN 2022 ONWARDS

On 29 September, Ofqual published details of how exams and assessments are to be graded in autumn 2022 and summer 2023.

• GCSE and A-Levels. Because of the pandemic, in 2020 and 2021 teacher assessed grades (TAGs) replaced exams as the means of determining GCSE and A-Level results. These two years saw substantial inflation in grades awarded, so in an attempt to return grades to pre-pandemic levels this year Ofqual took steps to set grades at a point midway between those awarded in 2019 (prior to the pandemic) and 2021. Ofqual has now confirmed that GCSE and A-level grades awarded this autumn and from the summer of 2023 onwards will be expected to return to pre-pandemic levels. Exam aides will continue to be allowed in some subjects (such as the provision of formulae and equation sheets in GCSE mathematics, physics, and combined science), and awarding organisations (AOs) will be expected to use the grades achieved by previous cohorts of students, along with prior attainment data, to inform their decisions about where to set grade boundaries. However, students will no longer be provided with advance information on the range and content of questions.
• Vocational and Technical Qualifications (VTQs). Ofqual has said that adaptations to exams and other assessments allowed in 2021 and 2022 should not be used again in 2023. However, AOs will be expected to take account of the approach used in GCSEs and A-Levels so that students taking VTQs are not disadvantaged in comparison. Ofqual has also asked AOs to be ‘generous’ in awarding T-Levels grades in the first years of awards, to ‘reflect the fact these qualifications are new’.

Ofqual’s approach to grading from this autumn onwards inevitably means that all students taking exams from this autumn onwards are likely to achieve overall lower grades than those awarded this summer.

SOME PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE BEING INVESTIGATED FOR ‘MALPRACTICE’ IN TAGS AWARDED IN 2020 AND 2021 

It has been reported that some private schools are being investigated for malpractice after evidence emerged that they may have ‘gamed the system’ by awarding over-inflated TAGs in 2020 and 2021. When exams were re-introduced this year, the independent schools now under investigation saw their grades fall dramatically and proportionately, by significantly more than in state schools (including grammar schools). Ofqual has confirmed that there are cases of malpractice being investigated at some private schools, and that because AOs were carrying out the investigations Ofqual was unable to comment further.

2023 EXAM FEES ARE BEING INCREASED 

AOs in England are increasing their exam fees for 2023. For example, Edexcel and OCR are raising their fees for all GCSE and A-Level exams subjects by 6%. AQA is raising its fees by between 5% and 12% (17% for Art) with most rising by 9.9%. College and school leaders say that the increases will add more pressure already stretched school and college budgets. However, AOs say that they too are facing additional costs that they need to cover, and that the increases are below the current rate of inflation. See here for a list of 2023 OCR fees, here for a list of 2023 Edexcel fees, and here for a list of 2023 AQA fees.

MPS INVESTIGATE REASONS FOR DELAYS OF BTEC AND CAMBRIDGE TECHNICAL RESULTS

On 12 October, representatives from Pearson (which owns Edexel) and OCR, were questioned by members of the House of Commons Education Select Committee on the reasons for this summer’s delays in issuing around 7,000 BTEC Level 2 results, 3,300 BTEC Level 3 results, and 3,200 Cambridge Technical (CTEC) results, and if the delays had impacted on students’ ability to obtain university places and/or to progress into work or higher study. They were also asked about the measures they intended to put in place to ensure that similar delays were not repeated in the future. The Pearson and OCR representatives explained that they first became aware of the problem on 17 August (results day) when it became apparent that there were far more issues being raised which were taking much longer to resolve. They went on to say that the delays were a direct result of the complex adaptations to VTQ assessments that had been introduced during pandemic, which had led to significantly more issues arising, all of which needed to be resolved before results could be issued. They also said that as far as they were aware no student had lost out on a university place because of the delays. They confirmed that they were carrying out in-depth reviews of what had happened to help ensure that there was no repeat in subsequent years. The Ofqual Chief Regulator, Jo Saxton, who was also present at the meeting, told members that Ofqual was carrying out its own review into the reasons for the delay and expected to be able to publish the findings in December. You can watch the Education Committee proceedings on Parliament TV here.

DFE TO PRESS AHEAD WITH DEFUNDING AROUND 3,500 POST-16 ENTRY AND LEVEL 2 VTQS

On 18 October, the DfE published its response to the consultation on proposals to remove public funding from almost 3,500 entry level and Level 2 post-16 VTQs. In the response, the DfE says that it intends to go ahead with the proposals because ‘the volume of such qualifications currently available is too complex for employers and students to navigate’. However, the DfE also says that the implementation of the proposals will be delayed by a year, after which they will be phased in over the period from 2024 and 2027. The delay follows concerns expressed by Ofqual that the initial timeline for implementation overlapped with the scheduled implementation of changes to 16-19 Level 3 qualifications, and that this could prove to be ‘administratively overwhelming’. Concerns about the numbers of VTQs being defunded have been expressed by FE sector leaders, but the DfE has insisted that in future ‘only those qualifications that are deemed to be high quality and lead to good outcomes for students will be approved for public funding’.

DFE PUBLISHES FINAL LIST OF 16-19 LEVEL 3 QUALIFICATIONS TO BE DEFUNDED

On 14 October, the DfE published its latest list of 16-19 Level 3 qualifications scheduled to have their funding withdrawn for new starts from 1 August 2024. This is because they are deemed duplicate or overlap with T-Levels. An examination of the list reveals that, following appeals made by AOs, of the 160 16-19 Level 3 VTQs initially scheduled to have their funding withdrawn in 2024, at least 106 (including around one-third of the BTECs at risk) will now continue to be funded (although the DfE has warned that some of these qualifications might have their funding withdrawn in the future as more T-Levels are rolled out). The DfE has also delayed a decision in respect of defunding a further 33 courses deemed to duplicate or overlap with Health and Science T-Levels until December. This comes after an investigation by Ofqual which found that six core exams set by the NCFE within the T-Level Health and Science route were not fit for purpose and therefore required students’ results to be regraded. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE), which holds responsibility for T-Level accreditation, is carrying out its own review of these T-Level exams.

Meanwhile, David Hughes, the Chief Executive of the Association of Colleges (AoC) has called on the government to retain funding for all of the 16-19 Level 3 VTQs that duplicate or overlap with T-Levels until they have been ‘fully tried and tested’.

TWO MORE NCFE T-LEVEL EXAM PAPERS CALLED INTO QUESTION BY OFQUAL

In the period since the difficulties with NCFE T-Level Heath and Science exams emerged, two more NCFE T-Level exam papers (in the Education and Childcare, and Digital routes) have become the subject of an investigation by Ofqual, which this time found that they ‘did not secure a sufficiently valid or reliable measure of student performance’. Following on from this, on 12 October Ofqual issued an ‘enforceable undertaking’ in respect of exams in all three of the T-Level routes. NCFE has been required to sign this. The enforceable undertaking contains:

• Details of the incidents reported
• The findings of Ofqual’s technical review of these incidents
• NCFE’s response to Ofqual’s findings and their action plans to address the issues raised.

NCFE is also required to agree to provide Ofqual with an ‘evidence statement of assurance’ for each of its T-Level exams, confirming that the action plan has been delivered, and that the issues raised in the 2022 exams have been dealt with. The statements of assurance must be provided to Ofqual before the final sign-off and printing of each T-Level exam paper.

OFSTED PUBLISHES INTERIM REPORT ON THE QUALITY OF T-LEVELS

On 24 October, Ofsted published is interim report on its review of the quality of T-Level courses. The report was due to be published earlier but was delayed because of the pandemic. The review itself involved visits to 24 T-Level and T-Level Transition Programme (TLTP) providers during 2020 and 2021 (during the pandemic). The main findings in the interim report include the following:

• Providers are committed to making T-Levels a success, but not all providers gave students initial advice and guidance that focused on preparing them for the expectations of T-Levels. Although most students were given information about the different components of the course, not all students felt prepared for how much work they had to do for a T-Level course.
• Students were appreciative of the quality of teaching on their T-Level course. However, although many teachers were well prepared for teaching T-Level courses, some did not receive adequate training and found teaching the new curriculum challenging. Teachers also faced challenges in balancing all the requirements of the course. Recruitment and retention of staff with sufficient knowledge and experience was difficult due to the pandemic and sector workforce shortages.
• The more effective T-level curricula were developed by providers in collaboration with employers. Providers that were more effective had already used the flexibility in the new T-Level courses to sequence different components in a coherent way that develops students’ knowledge and skills. Some providers did not have sufficient access to resources such as textbooks and practice exam papers.
• The more effective industry placements gave broad, high-quality, and appropriate experiences that helped students make decisions about their futures. However, many students experienced delays in starting their industry placements, primarily due to the impact of the pandemic. Providers of digital, construction, and health and science courses in particular were struggling to find employers to provide placements. Some employers did not routinely give students the opportunity to put theory into practice. In a small number of cases, students were given only basic tasks to perform.
• Some providers reported that the full T-Level curriculum did not allow for adequate time to prepare students who did not hold a Grade 4 or above in GCSE maths and/or English to resit those subjects. This is not now a T-Level requirement but resits are offered by many providers to better help students progress after completing their T-Levels.
• Teaching on the one-year T-Level Transition Programme (TLTP) was generally of a high standard but did not always result in learners progressing to a T-Level as intended. The quality of work experience for learners on theTLTP was not always high. Providers did not always help learners on the programme to find meaningful work experience relevant to their course.

A further review of T-Levels will be carried out by Ofsted next year.

T-LEVELS FOR ADULTS PILOT LAUNCHED

T-Levels are currently only available for 16-19-year-old students, and for students up to the age of 24 who have an education, health, or care plan (EHCP). However, the DfE has launched a ‘low key’ two-year trial to deliver T-Levels to older students ahead of a possible 2025 rollout. The pilot commenced this month (October) and covers the T-Level Digital, Construction, Education, and Health and Science routes. Eleven colleges have been selected by the DfE to deliver the T-Level pilot to a cohort of around 150 older students, although not all of these colleges are as yet actively involved. The pilot is required to be delivered flexibly so that if necessary, adults can continue working alongside their studies and/or care commitments. The older students recruited to the pilot programmes will not be taught alongside 16-18-year-olds.  An evaluation of the pilot will be carried out during 2024 and will inform the DfE’s decision on whether to roll the courses out nationally to adults from September 2025 (subject to Treasury approval).

DFE PUBLISHES UPDATE TO ITS POLICY PAPER ON LSIPS AND THE SDF

On 19 October, the DfE published an update to its Policy Paper on Local Skills Improvement Plans (LSIPs) and the Strategic Development Fund (SDF). The updated Policy Paper also covered Designated Employer Representative Bodies (ERBs) and LSIPs trailblazers.

INCREASE IN APPRENTICESHIP STARTS IN 2021/22

On 13 October, the DfE published data on apprenticeship starts in the 2021/22 academic year. The data shows that starts grew by 9% compared with 2020/21, with young people aged 16-24 making up most of the increase. This is likely to reflect the impact of the availability of enhanced employer apprenticeship incentives worth £3,000, which were still in place for much of 2021/22. The data shows that:

• There were a total of 347,900 starts in 2021/22 compared to 319,400 in 2020/21, (although they were 11% lower than the 389,200 starts recorded in pre-pandemic 2018/19).
• 16-18-year-olds made up the largest proportional rise in starts, increasing by 20% from 64,400 in 2020/21 to 77,200 in 2021/22.
• 19-24-year-olds made up the second largest proportional rise in starts, increasing by 13% from 94,000 to 105,900.
• Starts for those aged 25 and older only grew by 2%, from 160,900 to 164,800.
• Apprenticeship starts at all levels grew between 2020/21 and 2021/22. Level 2 starts increased by 9%, Level 3 starts increased by 10%, and level 4 and above starts increased by 8%.

MORE THAN £2 BILLION OF UNSPENT APPRENTICESHIP FUNDING RETURNED TO TREASURY

The DfE has in the past appeared to be reluctant to share information on apprenticeship budgets, even in response to Freedom of Information (FoI) requests. However, on 22 September, Richard Holden MP submitted a formal  written question to Andrea Jenkyns MP, the Secretary of State for Education in England asking how much of the apprenticeship levy educational providers had spent and how much had been returned to treasury in each financial year since 2017/18 (when the levy was first introduced). On 12 October Mr Holden received a response from the DfE. The response revealed that the amount of apprenticeship funding returned to the Treasury was as follows:

• 2017/18- £424 million
• 2018/19- £493 million
• 2019/20- £550 million
• 2020/21- £604 million

The DfE said it could not yet provide the figures for 2021/22 because its accounts for that year had not yet been audited. The figures reveal that over the 4-year period, apprenticeship budgets were underspent by more than £2 billion. This amounts to 23% of the DfE’s total apprenticeship budget for the period.

NEW APPRENTICESHIP FUNDING RULES PUBLISHED

On 6 October the DfE published the latest version of its apprenticeship funding rules for employers, employer providers and main providers. Two of the key changes to the rules are as follows:

• Previously, an apprentice who changed employers part-way through their apprenticeship programme and did not commence new employment within 30 days was automatically regarded as a non-achieving leaver and this had a negative impact on the initial provider’s retention and achievement rates. Under the new rules, this period has been increased from 30 days to 12 weeks..
• Following a legislative change, prisoners are now eligible to undertake apprenticeships. Under current apprenticeship legislation, apprenticeships take place under an apprenticeship agreement which is classed as a contract of employment in law. However, prisoners were previously unable to undertake an apprenticeship because they were prohibited by the Ministry of Justice from entering into a contract of employment to avoid contractual disputes that could arise due to their incarceration. To help with their rehabilitation, the law has now been changed to enable prisoners to undertake apprenticeships without the need for a contract of employment. Up to 300 prisoners who are eligible for day release and nearing the end of their time in open prison are expected to be recruited onto apprenticeships by 2025.

TENDERS PUBLISHED FOR DELIVERY OF FE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

On 3 October, the DfE published tenders for the delivery of two new professional development programmes. These are as follows:

• A contract worth £9.55 million for delivering a programme of continuous professional development (CPD) for leaders and governors. The contract will start in February 2023 and end in March 2025. See here for details. The tender says that key aims of the programme are to:
  • Strengthen leadership and governance capacity and capability.
  • Equip FE governors, governance professionals and current/aspiring executive leaders with the knowledge and skills they need to successfully lead their corporations and colleges at a time of change.
  • Support the growth of a diverse leadership pipeline.
  • Aid the development of a self-improving sector.
• A contract worth £1.2 million for a mentoring programme for new and inexperienced teachers. The contract will run for two years from April 2023. See here for details The tender says that the key aims of the programme are to:
  • Offer additional support and training to FE practitioners that act as mentors for new and inexperienced teachers in the sector.
  • Provide mentors with the skills to assist the wellbeing and mental health of newly appointed FE teachers.
  • Support smooth transition between industries and help form positive teacher-retention practices.
  • Offer mentees access to a skilled mentor that can aid their professional and personal development to become excellent teachers.

Both contracts are linked to commitments in the government’s Skills for Jobs White Paper in respect of improving FE governance standards and helping to retain FE sector staff. The programmes will add to (but presumably not duplicate) the existing governance and leadership programmes offered by the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), which also include a leadership mentoring scheme, a governance development initiative, and a mentoring and development programme for governance professionals.

ETF LAUNCHES NEW FE FINANCE LEADERS AND MANAGERS COURSE

Earlier this month the ETF launched a new programme to help current and prospective FE finance leaders and managers programme. The ETF says that the aim of the programme is to ‘develop participants’ ability to drive performance through feedback, adapt communication styles for different audiences, skilfully manage upwards, present commercial insight and opinion, master stakeholder mapping, and increase their effectiveness as a business partner to their wider organisation’. The programme has been designed in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).

ABSENTEEISM FROM SCHOOL IS INCREASING

The latest DfE data on absenteeism in schools in England shows that school attendance was 80.8% in July, down from 92.2% in March. In January, the Centre for Social Justice published a report entitled ‘Lost but not forgotten: The reality of absence in schools post lock-down’, was published in January, which said that more than 100,000 ‘ghost children’ had not returned to school since the coronavirus pandemic began. To help address the problem of high rates of absenteeism in schools, the government has introduced a new Schools Bill, that includes (amongst other things) legislative proposals for new statutory guidance on pupil attendance, including a requirement for every school to publish a clear attendance policy which sets out clear expectations for staff, pupils, and parents on the processes that should be followed in the policy.

OfS CONSULTS ON THE INTRODUCTION OF AN ‘EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES RISK REGISTER’ FOR HE PROVIDERS

On 6 October, the Office for Students (OfS) launched a five-week consultation on a requirement for universities and FE colleges offering HE programmes to produce an ‘Equal Opportunities Risk Register’ (EORR). The OfS says that the aim of an EORR is to help the provider ‘identify and tackle barriers through a student’s journey, and that HE providers should refer to their register when producing their access and participation plans in order to help ensure that equality of opportunities is embedded in all aspects of provision.

HE provider access and participation plans are currently focused on a list of OfS target groups set nationally, which included mature students, those from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, care leavers, and those from lower household incomes. In the consultation, the OfS proposes a move away from national equality targets and that instead HE providers should develop their own targets in an EORR for their institution, along with an action plan designed to mitigate risks to equality of opportunity identified in it, and a robust methodology for monitoring their progress in achieving targets set. This, says the OfS, should include an assessment of numbers of disadvantaged students recruited, how attainment gaps are compensated for, and the provision of flexible, non-traditional routes into HE, such as through part-time courses and apprenticeships. The OfS warns that HE institutions will be required to base their EORR on credible evidence and will need to be able to demonstrate how they are using it to improve fair access and outcomes. The OfS also says that a provider’s EORR will need to be updated annually and include information on new risks to equality of opportunity identified, the students who may be affected by these risks, and an assessment of the impact on the provider’s access and participation improvement plans.

The OfS says that following the outcome of the consultation it will set out next steps in early 2023, with the requirement for HE providers to produce EORRs along with associated access and participation

improvement plans from 2024/25 onwards. The consultation closes on 10 November.

OfS SAYS HE PROVIDERS COULD FACE FINES IF NOT ENOUGH OF THEIR GRADUATES GET GRADUATE-LEVEL JOBS 

On 30 September, the OfS introduced new measures which could result in HE providers in England facing financial penalties of up to £500,000 unless at least: 75% of their full-time students studying for a first degree complete their course and 60% go on to higher study or into a professional level job within 15 months of graduating.

The OfS has also published the criteria they have used for arriving at these thresholds. The OfS says that currently there are 33 universities and colleges which have failed to meet the 75% retention rate threshold, and 62 that have failed to meet the 60% threshold for students securing graduate-level jobs. The OfS says that, in future, intervention will be initiated where the course dropout rate is high, employment outcomes for students are low, and where the universities or college concerned cannot credibly explain why. Many in the HE sector have criticised the OfS approach, pointing out that graduate salaries do not necessarily reflect the value of a specific course to the student. A spokesperson for UUK, said that in the vast majority of cases, students going to university can expect ‘to have a good experience and a world-leading education’. However, Susan Lapworth, the OfS chief regulator, said she remained concerned about ‘low earning degrees’ and that ‘too many students, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, were being recruited onto courses with weak outcomes which did not improve their life chances’.

OfS PUBLISHES NEW REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS IN RESPECT OF QUALITY OF ONLINE AND BLENDED LEARNING

During the pandemic lockdowns, universities, along with schools and colleges, switched to online learning. When the lockdowns were lifted, many HE providers appeared to be reluctant to return to face-to-face teaching. This led some observers to argue that students were being denied access to a full university learning experience, and that in continuing to deliver courses online, universities were attempting to maximise their fee income for minimum cost. However, other observers pointed out the advantages of online learning, particularly in terms of increased flexibility and improved access for those students who were unable to attend university full-time. There were also some who went further and argued that a ‘blend’ of face-to-face and online tuition provided the most effective learning experience for students.

In May, the OfS issued revised conditions of registration relating to the quality of courses being largely delivered through online learning, and went on to announce its intention to conduct a review of the approaches taken by different HE providers to online and blended learning, the main purpose of which was to examine the extent to which their approach complied with the revised OfS quality conditions. The OFS then appointed a panel of academic experts led by Professor Susan Orr, Pro Vice Chancellor of De Montfort University, to conduct the review. The panel interviewed students and staff at different HE providers as part of their work and found examples of good practice in blended learning, as well as identifying poor practice. The panel’s report was published by the OfS on 19 October, and key findings in the report include the following:

• There are examples of high-quality blended approaches and innovation that support students’ learning.
• There are pockets of poor online teaching practice and poor online learning resources.
• The balance between face-to-face and online delivery is not the key determinant of teaching quality.
• Students reported that they received less timely and lower quality feedback in online learning settings than in face-to-face settings.
• Students reported feeling isolated studying online during national lockdowns and they identified a negative impact on their sense of belonging to an academic community because of an absence of peer networks and support during periods of isolation.

The report also includes recommendations which call for universities and colleges to ensure that:

• Students have clear information about the approach they can expect to blended learning when they are thinking about applying for a course, and after they have registered.
• Unedited lectures from previous years are carefully reviewed before they are used again, to ensure all course information is accurate and course content is up to date.
• Growth in student numbers does not drive their approach to blended learning and, instead, the blended approach should be informed by sound pedagogic principles.
• Approaches to learning and teaching allow academics to identify where students are struggling with online content or falling behind, so that their learning needs can be addressed.
• They engage with students to identify and address barriers to attendance and engagement.
• They work with students and students’ unions to create tools (including surveys, focus groups, reference groups) for students to evaluate their experience of blended study.

The report also identifies approaches to online and blended learning in the report that could cause regulatory concerns in respect of the OfS’s quality and consumer protection requirements. On 19 October the OfS published updated regulatory requirements which sets out what colleges and universities are expected to do to remain compliant with these requirements. These include ensuring that:

• Online lectures are up-to-date and of good quality.
• Online feedback is timely and of the same high quality as students would expect when learning in-person.
• Decisions about the balance between online and in-person learning are underpinned by sound pedagogic reasoning, not a desire to accommodate increased student numbers or to compensate for limitations in the physical space needed for in-person teaching.
• Students receive clear detailed information about how their course will be delivered.
• Students and staff are supported to develop the skills they need to engage effectively in online learning.

NEW REPORT SAYS THAT UP TO 300,000 POORER STUDENTS URGENTLY NEED ADDITIONAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT

Earlier this month, ‘MillionPlus’, an organisation that represents ‘new’ universities, published a report entitled ‘Learning with the lights off: students and the cost of living’. The report says that around 300,000 of the poorest students ‘desperately need additional financial support’ and that ‘a student recruitment and retention crisis’ will be created if the challenges facing these students are not addressed. The report goes on to say, ‘For mature students, those who are from low participation areas, first-in-family or commuter students, the cost-of-living crisis seriously risks forcing them out of higher education and damages their future prospects’. The report adds, ‘We must challenge the narrative that all students are 18-year-olds and are able to rely on parental support’ and goes on to say that maintenance loans have ‘fallen to a lower level than the national minimum wage’. The report recommends ‘immediate increases to student maintenance grants, hardship funds, and better inclusion of students in wider cost-of-living support measures’.

Responding to concerns raised in the report, a DfE spokesperson said that maintenance loans have been increased every year in line with living costs and that students who were worried about making ends meet should speak to their university about the support they can access from the £261 million in hardship funds that have been made available to HE institutions through the OfS.

CONTINUED GROWTH OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS COMING TO THE UK TO STUDY

In 2020/21 there were a total of 605,130 international students studying in UK universities and colleges. This is the largest number on record and exceeds the target of recruiting 600,000 students by 2030 set in the government’s policy paper, entitled ‘International Education Strategy: global potential, global growth’ (last updated on 25 May this year). Of these students, 152,905 were from the EU and 452,225 were non-EU. Tuition fee income from non-EU students has also grown substantially, now making up 17% of UK universities’ total income in 2020/21.

EU student applications fell by around 50% from 2019/20 to 2021/22. This decline took place alongside a 24% increase in non-EU student applications over the same period, suggesting that Brexit mainly affected EU nationals, who now have to apply for a UK study visa, face higher student tuition fees in the UK than in their own countries, and are no longer able to access UK government tuition fee and student support loans.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AND DEPENDENT’S VISAS

In the brief period between being appointed as Home Secretary by Liz Truss and then resigning, Suella Braverman asked Home Office staff to provide an analysis of the increasing number of dependents that international students were bringing with them to the UK. The request was part of a general immigration review and followed the publication of updated Home Office immigration data published on 23 September. Amongst other things, the Home Office data provides information on the number of visas granted to international students and their dependents in the year ending June 2022, which reveals that in that year, a record 486,868 study visas were granted. This was an increase of 71% on visas granted in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic. The data also shows that the number of dependent visas granted rose from 13,664 in 2019 to a record 81,089 in the year ending June 2022, an almost five-fold increase. Nigerian and Indian international students brought in the most dependents. Nigerian students made up just 7% of all international students in that year, but brought in 40% of all dependents, while 93,100 Indian students brought in 24,916 dependents. By way of comparison, 114,837 Chinese students brought in just 401 dependents.

Speaking at a fringe meeting of the Conservative Party Conference earlier this month, Ms Braverman (who has now been re-appointed as Home Secretary by Rishi Sunak) said that net migration to the UK currently stands at around 239,000 a year, and while there were clear benefits to be derived from this, high levels of immigration also increased the pressure on public services, housing, infrastructure and community relationships. This, she said, made it important to look at all visa routes into the UK, including the study visa route, so that a balance can be achieved between the volume of migration into the UK and the skills needed in the UK economy that cannot be provided for domestically.

Jamie Arrowsmith, Acting Director of Universities UK International (UUKI), described Ms Braverman’s comments as ‘disappointing’ and went on to say that they undermined the government’s own target to increase the number of international students to 600,000 and grow education exports to £35 billion by 2030.  Mr Arrowsmith pointed out that international students and their dependents paid a surcharge to use the NHS and that many UK postgraduate-level courses were only sustainable due to their popularity with international students. He also drew attention to a report entitled ‘The costs and benefits of international HE students to the UK economy’, produced by London Economics, and published jointly in September 2021 by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) and UUKI, which says that international students deliver the UK a net economic benefit of £25.9 billion (an average of £390 per person) per year. This is broadly in line with the government’s own analysis published on 16 December 2021 entitled ‘UK revenue from education related exports and transnational education activity’ and is further corroborated by research commissioned by HEPI in 2019, which found that international students who stay in the UK after graduating make a net positive contribution to UK tax revenues and did not take jobs away from UK citizens.

The debate about the desirability or otherwise of the continued growth in the number of international students coming to the UK is overlaid with a debate about the numbers that stay on in the UK after completing their studies. This debate includes consideration of the extent to which those staying on may be displacing home graduates in the domestic graduate job market, the extent to which international students remaining in the UK on completing their course may be depriving their own countries of much needed skills capacity, and the extent to which some international students and their dependents may see their course as an alternative route to gaining entry to, and eventual permanent residence in, the UK. (As was the case with international student recruitment by ‘bogus’ colleges, most of which have now been closed down).

Although most international students leave the UK on completing their studies, others wish to remain. From 2012 to 2020, non-EU international students who wanted to stay in the UK after completing their studies were required to apply for another type of visa, usually a work or family reunification visa. The numbers granted were relatively small. For example, in 2020, only around 7,400 non-EU students who previously held study visas were granted visas to stay in the UK after completing their studies. However, from July 2021, international students have been automatically able to remain and work in the UK for up to three years on completing their studies by applying for a Graduate Visa. This new post-study work visa has proved to be very popular with international students. In 2021 around 26,000 Graduate Visas were issued, and a further 30,500 Graduate Visas were issued in the first half of 2022, with the number of Graduate Visas issued in the future expected to continue to increase. Although Graduate Visas cannot be extended, it is possible for those wishing to remain after their Graduate Visa expires, and who are in skilled work, to apply for a skilled worker visa or ‘Global Talent’ visa. Those wishing to remain permanently in the UK can apply for settled status if they have resided in the UK for five years after completing their studies. A Home Office report entitle ‘Migrant Journey’ published in May says that of all migrants granted settled status in 2021 (main applicants and dependants), 18% initially came to the UK on a study visa. Many argue that retaining international students after completing their course benefits the UK because they have other useful skills such as language and cultural knowledge that can help UK businesses break into new overseas markets.

HE PROVIDERS WARNED THAT RELIANCE ON CHINESE STUDENT FEES COULD LEAVE THEM FINANCIALLY VULNERABLE

Data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), which on 4 October became part of the Joint Information Services Committee (JISC), has revealed that the number of Chinese students at UK universities and colleges rose by 50% to 143,820 over the five years to 2020/21. The data also shows that in that year, Chinese students accounted for almost a third of all non-EU international students. For example, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Glasgow Universities all had more than 5,000 Chinese students in the last academic year, and around a quarter of all students at University College London and around a fifth of all students at Liverpool University, were from China. Some HE providers now rely on Chinese student fees for almost one third of their total income.

However, universities and colleges have been warned that an ‘excessive reliance’ on Chinese student fees could, in the future, undermine their financial resilience. This is because relationships between the UK and Chinese governments have been deteriorating in recent years. This has been caused by, for example, the suppression of democracy in Hong Kong, the recent beating of a pro-democracy protestor by Chinese diplomats in Manchester, the Chinese government’s treatment of ethnic Uyghurs, and the suspicion that many of the Chinese students in the UK sponsored by the Chinese government, may in fact be Chinese government agents. (See the 12 October Henry Jackson Society article on Confucius Institutes in British Universities). Many observers believe that the UK Government may soon declare China a formal threat and should this happen, it is likely to trigger retaliation measures from the Chinese government, one of which could be to restrict or prevent Chinese students from studying in the UK. This could result in a financial crisis for those universities and colleges that are heavily reliant on tuition fee income from Chinese students and the OfS has been asked to monitor the extent to which HE providers in general may be at risk from not having a sufficiently diverse international recruitment strategy.

SLC APPOINTS NEW CEO

On 12 October, it was announced that Chris Larmer will become the next Chief Executive of the Student Loans Company (SLC). He is currently the SLC Executive Director of Operations, and will replace Paula Sussex, who will be leaving the SLC at the end of the year. A copy of the SLC Corporate and Business Plan for the period 2022/23 to 2024/25, which sets out its medium term objectives, direction and strategy can be found here.

AND FINALLY…

Conversations overheard in the college libraries…

‘Do you have any books on shelving?’
‘Yes, all of them’

‘Do you have a book on how to disappoint people?’
‘No’

‘Do you have a book on paranoia?’
‘Yes, it’s behind you’

‘Do you have any books on Pavlov?’
‘Hmm…, let me think, the name rings a bell’

‘Can you tell me where the books on self-help are?’
‘No. Find them yourself’ 

‘Do you have any books on tortoises?’
‘Hard back?’
‘Yes, with little heads’

‘Do you have any books on disability discrimination?’
‘Yes, they’re up the stairs, in the farthest right-hand corner and on the top shelf’

‘Do you have a book on Schrodinger’s cat?’
‘We did, but I don’t know if it’s there or not’

‘Do you have any books on tape?’
‘No. It isn’t a very popular subject’

‘Do you have a bookmark?’
‘Yes, we have hundreds, but my name’s Dave’.

‘Do you have a book on abdominal surgery?’
‘We did, but somebody ripped the appendix out’

‘Do you have a book on the laws of probability?’
‘I think so, it could be on the shelf over there’

‘Do you have a book about coincidences?’
‘Strangely enough, one has just arrived’

Do you have any books on porous rocks?
No, have you tried Waterstones

‘Do you have “Great Expectations”?’
‘Yes, I expect to be made Head of College Learning Resources’

(I can hear the groans from here)

Alan Birks – October 2022

As usual, the views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those held by Click.
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