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Further & Higher Education Market Report 2009
Key Note Publications Ltd, Jan 2010, Pages: 87
This Market Report examines the UK's further and higher education sector. It comes at a time when the spectre of spending cuts in 2010 or 2011 looms over it; yet it is also a time when the number of overseas students studying in the UK has never been higher and, globally, the UK's universities remain highly regarded. The further and higher education sector includes many different kinds of institution: sixth-form colleges; tertiary education colleges; further education colleges; higher education colleges; universities; specialist colleges; adult education institutes; privately owned independent colleges of education; and distance-learning organisations. There are around 593 institutions in this sector in total (excluding adult education colleges).
In 2008/2009, there were around 3.4 million students in further education and 2.3 million in higher education, according to estimates. During that year, the authors estimate that expenditure on higher education amounted to £24bn, while £8.7bn was spent on further education. Most students are studying first degrees full time, but mature students make up an important part of the student population and appear to comprise a growing share of the total number of students. Mature students account for 10% to 15% of the total student population at many institutions, while more than 50% of those studying in some institutions are mature students. The fact that this sector can attract so many mature students is, in many ways, a strength.
In the university sector, Oxford, Cambridge and London remain the leading establishments, while St Andrews, York, Warwick, Durham, Exeter, Bristol, Bath, Edinburgh, Leicester and the London School of Economics have all been commended for outstanding research and teaching. UK universities rank extremely highly in global league tables and academics do not want to see their international pre-eminence imperilled by cuts in 2010.
Without any question, funding is the main issue affecting this sector. Most of the funds come from the Government, hence the sense of disquiet in the academic world. Funding concerns affect not only research budgets, but also teaching budgets. Each year the number of students rises, but the number of staff to support them does not increase proportionately; academics say that this cannot go on. The sector finds itself in the curious position of being singled out by the Government as one of the key sources of economic recovery, yet, at the same time, the sector is already being asked to cut back its expenditure. The Government has commissioned a whole raft of reports and submissions to help it frame a strategy for the next 10 years, some of which are referred to in this report.
The report estimates that the number of students in further education will drop to 3 million by 2013/2014 and the number in higher education will decrease slightly. Expenditure on both further education and higher education is likely to contract in 2010/2011 and will not start to rise until 2012/2013. Some financial experts have suggested that those institutions that are in severe financial difficulties should either close or merge. Given that the number of 18 year-olds will be decreasing over the next 7 to 10 years, the argument for maintaining so many institutions in the further and higher education sector might become hard to sustain.
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