1. College HE and Higher Vocational Education Project Outline and Progress Professor John Storan – Director, Continuum UEL AoC Conference 20 November 2013

2. Project Aims understanding the issues Applicant Behaviour – Why CHE part time HE student enrolments have decreased – What intervention options could be identified to assist government in assessing viable solutions. Barriers to CHE Expansion – Examine the contractual, funding and validation arrangements of CHE to assess what impact these factors have on the scope for CHE to act as agents in the HE market – Explore what measures could be introduced to support further provider entry and expansion.

3. Objectives – Building the Evidence Base Establish the quantity and extent of part time and full time college HE, Establish future ambitions of CHE Student perspective - reasons for decline in recruitment to p/t HE in FE courses Employer perspective - reasons for decline in recruitment to p/t HE in FE courses Identify future College HE plans, to more fully understand ambitions for HE expansion or contraction; Identify barriers and constraints for College HE expansion;

4. Approach – Working with the Stakeholders Rapid review of the literature and policy documents (including College plans Analysis of enrolment and demographic data from research sites (30 colleges) Survey of applicants (exact population to be established once research sites identified) Survey of CHE providers Survey of employers Interviews with employers Interviews with CHE providers (30-45 interviews) Focus Groups with applicants

5. Progress and Challenges (Phase 1) Phase 1 (June 2013- July 2014) Phase 2 (July 2014- July 2015) Dr Arti Saraswat Senior Research Fellow (College HE) + Dr Anne Thompson as a project advisor Project literature Review completed Data Specification finalized Research instrument in preparation First Steering Group meeting held Second Steering Group meeting December 2013

6. Project contact information Dr Arti Saraswat Senior Research Fellow Continuum University of East London London E16 2RD Tel: 020 8223 2162 E-mail: a.saraswat@uel.ac.uk Web: www.uel.ac.uk/continuum Tony Hudson Research Manager Continuum University of East London London E16 2RD Tel: 020 8223 7772 E-mail: a.hudson@uel.ac.uk Web: www.uel.ac.uk/continuum