1. Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism: Higher Education Delivered in Further Education Colleges in England Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism: Higher Education Delivered in Further Education Colleges in England Dr Claire Haven Professor David Botterill Welsh School of Hospitality, Tourism & Leisure Management University of Wales Institute, Cardiff

2. Context….. HE needs a better understanding of the context within which HE is delivered in FE institutions Similarly, FE needs to understand the context within which HE institutions operate Identification of the role of the LTSN in progressing ways of academic understanding

3. Project Aims To establish the scale and scope of HE provision in FE colleges in England within the subject areas of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport and Tourism To formalise the process of establishing a two- way dialogue between the LTSN and its HE subject communities and the staff of FEIs involved in the delivery of a substantial HE portfolio in HLS&T To identify the needs of FE staff and identify and disseminate examples of good practice in peer assessed priority areas of learning and teaching for HE in FE

4. Process Appointment of a post-doctoral Senior Research Associate Desk Research to attempt to establish the scale and scope of provision In-depth Interviews with a sample of FE Colleges in England Future Survey to quantify and add breadth to the qualitative process

5. Desk Research: Results To date, an indicative dataset has been established by combining a number of sources of data, which provides an estimate of HE provision in FE colleges in England Hospitality82 FE providers Leisure118 FE providers Sport65 FE providers Tourism100 FE providers

7. In-depth Interviews: Results Provision the level and extent of provision varied between FEIs courses ranged from being independent or franchised to ‘true’ partnerships funding and the relationship with the designated HEI appeared to be a key element within this many FEIs were fairly new to HE provision within the subject areas

8. Resources generally, small student cohorts were reported. Only 1 FEI had a critical mass of students. small numbers of full-time staff appear to be involved in the management and delivery of HE programmes. Rarely are such staff ‘exclusive’ to HE teaching FEIs appeared to be highly dependent on the use of part-time lecturers to address specialist areas different arrangements around accessing learning resources at HE partner institutions resources, such as books, videos and IT software were found to be difficult to fund, especially for small cohorts

9. Learning & Teaching the incorporation of work-based learning varied between FEIs, from those that followed ‘standard’ IWE programmes to those utilising student experiences in the (paid) workplace to acknowledge prior work experience field trips and industrial visits are seen as important but funding, teaching cover and childcare costs are issues key influence of ‘casual’ lecturing staff in some cases, awarding bodies at HE level are deemed to have less influence to those at FE level

10. all FEIs had experience of peer assessment, which was felt to be a great strength well established internal verification procedures are in place to deal with quality issues, although plagiarism and EO were felt to be areas that required input from HEIs setting appropriate HE assessment criteria is problematic

11. Recruitment, Retention & Progression retention was not reported to be such an issue - the problem is recruitment, due to competition from local HEIs and a lack of money to recruit nationally and internationally generally, students were felt to be well prepared for progression into a HE environment, although it did beg the question ‘What are the students being prepared for? Educational progression or employment?’ linked to top-up programme - motive of HEI? only a few FEIs had considered foundation degrees in the 4 subjects, which they feel they are better placed than universities to deliver

12. FEI Staff Perceptions of HE delivered in FEFEI Staff Perceptions of HE delivered in FE strengths HE delivered in FEI - strengths: flexible delivery peer observation pastoral care support and guidance skill providers specialist industry knowledge weaknesses: HE delivered in FEI - weaknesses: resourcing low image status in HE market place gaining a critical mass lack of time, money, expertise for appropriate research academic standard of lecturers lack of a ‘HE’ culture

13. What can HE learn from FEIs? more support and awareness of HE in FE establish basis for collaboration by recognition of strengths access to subject expertise during course design Role of LTSN22 those that knew of it thought it was for HE staff only, therefore not relevant to them! Changing the mindset of those in HE about those in FE, and vice versa

14. Key Messages: Understanding HE in FE Substantial and dynamic HE provision in FEIs in the 4 subject areas FE context is different to HE context demand driven financial imperative e.g.: decisions on direct funding as opposed to university franchise top-slicing small groups, individual tutoring, non- traditional students casualisation of lecturing

15. Possible future actions for the HE/FE project & LTSN22 share findings with the 2 other subject networks involved in HE/FE projects facilitate better understanding of the 2 contexts through regional seminars to bring the 2 ‘tribes’ together provide e-learning resources on HE processes and practices for part-time hourly-paid staff issues to be addressed in conjunction with professional bodies and subject associations –the practice of HEIs in validating franchises in subjects not present in HEI portfolio –negotiations with FEI management on staff hours and recognition for HE work

16. Final Consideration: Is this situation unique to Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism or is it identifiable within other subject communities where HE courses are delivered in FE environments?