Further Education: Higher Education
(asked on 22nd March 2016) - View Source
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many part-time students have taken higher education qualifications at a further education college in each of the last five years.
Information provided by the Higher Education Funding Council in England (HEFCE) on the number of part-time students undertaking a higher education qualification at English further education colleges between the 2011/12 and 2013/14 academic years is presented in the table. Information for the 2014/15 and 2015/16 academic years is not yet available.
Students enrolled in Part-time Higher Education | |
English Further Education Colleges | |
Academic Years 2011/12 to 2013/14 | |
Academic Year | Students |
2011/12 | 51,855 |
2012/13 | 40,340 |
2013/14 | 36,675 |
| |
Source: HEFCE analysis of the HESA Student Record and the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) Individualised Learner Record (ILR) | |
Notes: | |
(1) Figures have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 5 (2) Includes students enrolled across all years of study | |
The reasons for the decline in part-time higher education are complex. However, the Government is taking steps to support part-time study. For the first time, we will provide financial support to part-time students equivalent to the support we give to full-time students. We will consult on introducing full-time equivalent maintenance loans alongside the tuition fee loans we introduced for part-time students in 2012. We are also relaxing the “ELQ” restriction introduced in 2008 so that people can get a second degree if they want to re-train on a part-time STEM course.