Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) quality, and (2) accessibility, of industry placements offered by T-Levels providers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department is committed to ensuring students have access to high quality industry placements and have provided an extensive programme of employer and provider support to help with the delivery and scale up of placements. We have invested £200 million over the past four years to help providers build their capacity and networks with employers to deliver high quality placements and we have published practical industry placement delivery guidance for both education providers and employers. We also have comprehensive packages of support in place for both providers and employers, which offer them tailored advice and hands-on support to deliver high-quality placements.
To ensure access to placements, we have implemented several different delivery models to ensure placements are accessible and meaningful for all students, across all industries and locations. We are also engaging directly with employers through the department’s employer engagement teams to provide a strong pipeline of employers for the future, across all sectors and across the country, ready to offer placements. We have established a T Level employer ambassador network to engage with others in their industries on T Levels and placements, and our communications campaigns are continuing to raise the profile of T Levels and industry placements to an employer audience.
We will continue to monitor placement provision and work closely with providers and employers to identify any potential barriers to the delivery of placements for each of the T Levels, including access, and identify appropriate mitigations.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to build confidence in the (1) longevity, and (2) value, of applied general qualifications.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department will continue to fund a range of qualifications similar to current applied general qualifications. These can be taken alongside and as alternatives to A levels where they are necessary, high-quality and support progression to higher education. Through the post-16 qualifications review, these qualifications will need to meet new quality criteria to ensure they are well-designed and have strong progression value to be funded in future. This means that students, employers, and universities can have confidence in their value.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of students undertaking T-Levels are gaining at least 315 hours of ‘on-the-job’ experience during an industry placement.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
We are committed to ensuring every T Level student completes a high-quality industry placement, which involves genuine and meaningful experience working with employers.
We are monitoring the delivery of T Level industry placements to make sure that the first two cohorts of T Level students have a full placement secured but we are currently not collecting, nor planning to collect, data on what proportion of placement hours students are spending in a workplace setting. We have introduced some temporary industry placement flexibilities for the first two cohorts of T Level students in direct response to the delivery challenges caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. This will ensure that students can successfully complete their industry placement and therefore pass their T Level. This includes allowing some of the placement hours to be delivered remotely. We have been clear that these flexibilities are to be used by exception only, that they are temporary and that the provision of in-person placements remains the expectation.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many qualifications have been (1) received, and (2) approved, since 1 September 2020 under Exemption type 3: Qualifications in response to economic need.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The moratorium on approving new qualifications at level 3 and below for public funding for students aged 16 and over in England was introduced in September 2020. It was introduced for a period of three years, subject to annual review, and is intended to stabilise the publicly funded qualifications offer before wider reform is implemented. There are two exemptions to the moratorium. These are for qualifications developed in response to economic need and where qualification content has been updated to keep it relevant.
Qualifications which meet these two exemption criteria continue to be approved for funding. The Education, Skills and Funding Agency is due to confirm ongoing arrangements linked to the moratorium in March 2022.
The current moratorium is not intended to constrain the design or delivery of new qualifications where they meet the exemption criteria. The moratorium exemption criteria allow awarding organisations to design qualifications in response to two situations. The first is employer need, for instance in response to regional skills need or a new job role. The second is to meet learner need, for instance ensuring the content of the qualification the student is undertaking remains relevant and current.
These criteria should not prohibit awarding organisations in being innovative in how they design qualifications to meet new skills needs or update their qualifications to ensure students are undertaking relevant content. The current moratorium allows awarding organisations to submit a new qualification for funding approval where it has been designed in response to economic need (this is known as a type 3 exemption). Qualifications submitted under this exemption may be approved where appropriate evidence of economic need is submitted, and the qualification meets all other approval criteria.
Since the start of the moratorium, 40 qualifications have been submitted under the exemption type 3 criteria and 16 have been approved.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of effect of the moratorium on the consideration of new qualifications for funding approval on (1) innovation in the provision of (a) technical, and (b) vocational qualifications, and (2) the ability of awarding organisations to adapt to the needs of (i) learners, and (ii) employers.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The moratorium on approving new qualifications at level 3 and below for public funding for students aged 16 and over in England was introduced in September 2020. It was introduced for a period of three years, subject to annual review, and is intended to stabilise the publicly funded qualifications offer before wider reform is implemented. There are two exemptions to the moratorium. These are for qualifications developed in response to economic need and where qualification content has been updated to keep it relevant.
Qualifications which meet these two exemption criteria continue to be approved for funding. The Education, Skills and Funding Agency is due to confirm ongoing arrangements linked to the moratorium in March 2022.
The current moratorium is not intended to constrain the design or delivery of new qualifications where they meet the exemption criteria. The moratorium exemption criteria allow awarding organisations to design qualifications in response to two situations. The first is employer need, for instance in response to regional skills need or a new job role. The second is to meet learner need, for instance ensuring the content of the qualification the student is undertaking remains relevant and current.
These criteria should not prohibit awarding organisations in being innovative in how they design qualifications to meet new skills needs or update their qualifications to ensure students are undertaking relevant content. The current moratorium allows awarding organisations to submit a new qualification for funding approval where it has been designed in response to economic need (this is known as a type 3 exemption). Qualifications submitted under this exemption may be approved where appropriate evidence of economic need is submitted, and the qualification meets all other approval criteria.
Since the start of the moratorium, 40 qualifications have been submitted under the exemption type 3 criteria and 16 have been approved.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they plan to end the moratorium on the consideration of new qualifications for funding approval; and if so, when.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The moratorium on approving new qualifications at level 3 and below for public funding for students aged 16 and over in England was introduced in September 2020. It was introduced for a period of three years, subject to annual review, and is intended to stabilise the publicly funded qualifications offer before wider reform is implemented. There are two exemptions to the moratorium. These are for qualifications developed in response to economic need and where qualification content has been updated to keep it relevant.
Qualifications which meet these two exemption criteria continue to be approved for funding. The Education, Skills and Funding Agency is due to confirm ongoing arrangements linked to the moratorium in March 2022.
The current moratorium is not intended to constrain the design or delivery of new qualifications where they meet the exemption criteria. The moratorium exemption criteria allow awarding organisations to design qualifications in response to two situations. The first is employer need, for instance in response to regional skills need or a new job role. The second is to meet learner need, for instance ensuring the content of the qualification the student is undertaking remains relevant and current.
These criteria should not prohibit awarding organisations in being innovative in how they design qualifications to meet new skills needs or update their qualifications to ensure students are undertaking relevant content. The current moratorium allows awarding organisations to submit a new qualification for funding approval where it has been designed in response to economic need (this is known as a type 3 exemption). Qualifications submitted under this exemption may be approved where appropriate evidence of economic need is submitted, and the qualification meets all other approval criteria.
Since the start of the moratorium, 40 qualifications have been submitted under the exemption type 3 criteria and 16 have been approved.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assist universities in identifying (1) where in-country recruitment agents are failing to detect fraud, or (2) where agents are themselves engaged in malpractices, by publishing visa refusal rates by recruitment agent.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government wishes to attract international students to study in the UK as they enhance our educational institutions both financially and culturally.
The Student Route has robust safeguards to prevent the types of historic immigration abuse seen a decade ago on the previous Tier 4 route, with international students now being a highly compliant cohort.
UKVI decision-makers can carry out verification checks on documents submitted with an application and may interview applicants to assess their credibility and intentions. Anyone who has used false documents, misrepresented their personal circumstances or practiced deception by any other means, will have their application refused and may face a ban on making further applications for up to 10 years.
All policy, including around financial and credibility requirements, is kept under review. UKVI also carry out a range of activities to assist sponsors in maintaining the integrity of the route, allowing them to identify possible risks and establish best practice.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of whether elements of Canada's Student Direct Scheme, including proof of funds and deposit requirements, would improve the integrity of the UK visa system for international students.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government wishes to attract international students to study in the UK as they enhance our educational institutions both financially and culturally.
The Student Route has robust safeguards to prevent the types of historic immigration abuse seen a decade ago on the previous Tier 4 route, with international students now being a highly compliant cohort.
UKVI decision-makers can carry out verification checks on documents submitted with an application and may interview applicants to assess their credibility and intentions. Anyone who has used false documents, misrepresented their personal circumstances or practiced deception by any other means, will have their application refused and may face a ban on making further applications for up to 10 years.
All policy, including around financial and credibility requirements, is kept under review. UKVI also carry out a range of activities to assist sponsors in maintaining the integrity of the route, allowing them to identify possible risks and establish best practice.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the rates of fraud relating to the demonstration of proof of funds in international student visa applications, and (2) of the reported prevalence of fraudulent practices by rogue agents providing funds on a short-term basis, in order to assist students to meet the finance expectations and recycling the same funding to assist multiple students.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government wishes to attract international students to study in the UK as they enhance our educational institutions both financially and culturally.
The Student Route has robust safeguards to prevent the types of historic immigration abuse seen a decade ago on the previous Tier 4 route, with international students now being a highly compliant cohort.
UKVI decision-makers can carry out verification checks on documents submitted with an application and may interview applicants to assess their credibility and intentions. Anyone who has used false documents, misrepresented their personal circumstances or practiced deception by any other means, will have their application refused and may face a ban on making further applications for up to 10 years.
All policy, including around financial and credibility requirements, is kept under review. UKVI also carry out a range of activities to assist sponsors in maintaining the integrity of the route, allowing them to identify possible risks and establish best practice.
Asked by: Lord Johnson of Marylebone (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) how many, and (2) what proportion, of international students have chosen to stay in the UK after their studies in each of the last 10 years; and what was the breakdown of students by nationality for each year.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department publishes data about international graduates from English higher education (HE) providers and colleges who remain in the UK for employment or study one, three, five and ten years after graduating from a first degree in its annual Graduate Outcomes (LEO)[1] publication. Latest available data for international first degree graduates refer to outcomes in the 2018-19 financial year and are published in Table 45 here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-outcomes-leo/2018-19.
Table 1 in the attached spreadsheet summarises the outcomes of international first degree graduates from English HE providers and colleges one year after graduation for the past five tax years. Data is only published for financial year 2014-15 onwards.
The department also publishes employment outcomes and earnings for international postgraduates from English HE institutions in the LEO: Postgraduate outcomes[2] publication. Table 2 in the attached spreadsheet summarises the outcomes of international level 7 (taught and research) and level 8 postgraduates of English HE institutions, one year after graduation for the past five tax years. Data is only published for financial year 2014-15 onwards.
In the attachment, minor methodological adjustments were made to the published LEO percentage outcome calculations so that graduates in sustained employment, further study or both in the UK are given as a proportion of all graduates (published LEO calculations exclude those identified by the Department for Work and Pensions records as overseas from the denominator).
The publications also include breakdowns of graduates by country but focus on the 20 countries with the highest number of graduates in the 2016/17 academic year. These are available in Table 53 and Table 25 of the respective publications.
Another important data source that measures the outcomes of graduates from the UK HE system is the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Graduate Outcomes survey. This includes supplementary information about graduate outcomes, such as details of their employment destinations. Further information about the survey is available here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/graduates.
[1] https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-outcomes-leo/2018-19.