FE to HE PROGRESSION PROJECT Report to Welsh Government and HEFCW

NATURE and SCOPE A mapping exercise in each of the three HE regions of progression from level 3 FE programmes to level 4 and above Higher Education An overview report provided by ColegauCymru Identifying existing progression routes, any gaps in opportunities for progression and any barriers and hindrances to progression from FE to HE

HEALTH WARNING The research involved analysis of primary and secondary data sources The secondary data presented many problems, primarily: the quality of the data on the previous institution field in the HESA Student Record The large numbers in the ‘Unknown’ category The lack of robustness in destination data in LLWR, and in the records of FEIs and HEIs The Open University data does not identify previous institution

SOME BENCHMARKS In the UK as a whole in 2011 an estimated 40% of undergraduates entering HE were from FEIs In Wales, between 2007/08 and 2009/10, total undergraduate enrolments went from 78,403 to 82,867, an increase of 5.7% Undergraduate enrolments from Wales’ FEIs (directly trackable) went up by 35.5%; the largest increases being in Mid and North Wales and South West Wales Undergraduate enrolments from other UK FEIs (which includes some Wales’ FEIs) went up by 47.8% Combining the two provides an overall increase of 39%

TRENDS (1) Regionalisation of Progression: on average across all three regions approximately 70% of students progressing from FEIs stay in their own region Gender: females outnumber males progressing to HE by a ratio of 60:40; this is evident for both full-time and part-time students and is also a feature of Open University enrolments

TRENDS (2) AGE: The ratio of students aged 20 and under to those 21 years and over progressing to HE is 1:1 The age at entry of male undergraduates is, on average, lower than for females with a ratio of 6:4 For Open University students, 60% of undergraduates are aged years with just under 40% over the age of 40 years

TRENDS (3) PART-TIME ENROLMENTS: Over the period 2006/07 to 2010/11, part-time undergraduate enrolments in the Welsh HE sector fell by 34% (an absolute fall of 13,000 students) Over the same period, part-time enrolments in the FE sector in Wales also fell by a third In 2006/07, part-time enrolments represented 40% of enrolments in the HE sector in Wales compared to 30% in 2010/11 The number of FE students enrolling on part-time HE courses decreased by 2.3% over the period 2007/08 to 2009/10; a significantly lower decrease A much higher proportion of part-time students are of ‘unknown’ previous institution; need to drill-down to obtain a more accurate picture

TRENDS (4) ETHNICITY : Over the three years investigated, 89% of students progressing from Welsh FEIs to HE were classified as white and 8% of BME origin In 2009, the proportion of the population classified as BME origin was 3.4% and other ethnic groups as 0.7% WELSH MEDIUM STUDY : The number of students progressing from Welsh FEIs onto HE courses in Wales, where some element of the course is taken through the medium of Welsh, is low at 4.9% in 2007/08 although rising to 6.6% in 2009/10 However, enrolments on courses where some elements of the course is taken through the medium of Welsh increased by 81% over the three years; 79% increase for full-time courses and 95% for part-time courses The increase was particularly marked for students progressing from ‘vocational’ and ‘other’ courses at 112% and 123% respectively

TRENDS (5) Students from Communities First Areas: There was an increase of 37% in the number of students from CF areas enrolling on HE courses from Wales’ FEIs The S E Wales region accounts for the largest number of these enrolments (47%)

TRENDS (6) DISTANCE LEARNING : Over the period of the investigation, other than through the Open University, the number of students from Wales’ FEIs choosing to study by the distance learning mode was insignificant The number of Full-Time Equivalent undergraduate enrolments at the Open University in Wales increased from 2,568 to 3,245; an increase of 26% The increase was most marked in S E Wales at 30%; over 47% of all Open University students are domiciled in SE Wales

TRENDS (7) Completion of the First Year of Study : Completion rates for full-time students increased from 82% in 2007/08 to 87% in 2009/10 Completion rates for part-time students increased from 86% to 89%; in all three years part-time student completion rates exceeded those of full- time students

Qualifications at Entry to Higher Education (1) A levels continue to dominate the highest qualification of FEI students on entry to HE in Wales although their importance fell from 48% of students in 2007/08 to 42% in 2009/10 By comparison, the proportion of students entering HEIs with vocational qualifications increased from 20% to 28% over the same period There was a decrease in the proportion of students entering HE with ‘other’ qualifications from 32% to 29% Vocational qualifications are best represented in: subjects allied to medicine; agriculture; computer science; engineering and technology; business studies; creative arts and design; and education

Qualifications at Entry to Higher Education (2) The continuing importance of Access to HE courses is evidenced in the fact that annual enrolments remain at the level of approximately 2,000 students of whom 1,300 progress to HE courses Progression to HE is most marked in the areas of: adult and child nursing; mental health; midwifery; social work; criminal justice; occupational therapy; youth and community work; radiography; education; and creative arts

Programmes on which Undergraduates Enrol Progression from FEIs onto full-time courses reflects the continuing popularity of First Degree programmes which account for 88% of all programmes of study However, the numbers enrolling on HNC/D courses increased by 112% and on Foundation Degrees by 141% compared with an increase of 66% in the numbers enrolling on First Degrees Upwards of 50% of part-time students progressing from Wales’ FEIs enrol on HNC/D courses pointing to the continuing popularity of these qualifications with employers

Higher Education in the Further Education Sector in Wales (1) There are approximately 7,000 students following HE programmes of study in FEIs in Wales Of these 55% are female and 67% are enrolled on part-time courses In 2010/11 there were 1,500 students studying for a FD at 15 colleges in Wales

Higher Education in the Further Education Sector in Wales (2) The programmes on which students enrolled included: 32% on HNC/D; 20% on PGCE/Cert Ed; 19% on First Degrees; 18% on Foundation Degrees; 10% on Other Programmes; 1% on Post-Graduate Programmes In 2009/10 a total of 1300 students were directly funded by HEFCW with Coleg Llandrillo and Coleg Sir Gâr accounting for 91% of directly funded students The majority of students, 82% are funded under franchise arrangements with HEIs in Wales

Some Concerns (1) Disruption caused by the transfer of credits under the Transformation Agenda Disruption caused by the withdrawal of validation arrangements, for example, in land-based studies Inadequacies of data collection; especially in relation to previous institution and in destination data Data relating to part-time students is not as robust as the data for full-time students; urgent need to drill- down into part-time data to identify patterns, trends and occupational categories Too little direct funding of HE in FE in Wales compared to other parts of the UK

Some Concerns (2) The balance between full-time and part-time provision, for example, in the development of Foundation Degrees The future of part-time study following changes in funding regime and the introduction of fees The continuing need to support Welsh-medium study and progression from Communities First Areas in a period of public expenditure constraints The use of the Accreditation of Prior Experience and Learning to fast-track students, especially part-time students The use of Labour Market Intelligence in future planning and the importance of Employer Engagement