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Further Education and Training Bill [HL]

My Lords, an enormous number of helpful comments have been made about the Bill. I will focus my remarks specifically on Clause 19, which would allow the Privy Council to give degree-awarding powers to further education colleges in respect of foundation degrees. I begin by reinforcing what many other noble Lords have said, which is that foundation degrees have been a great success story. Here I declare my interest as chief executive of Universities UK. The foundation degree is a very new qualification. As the noble Lord, Lord Plumb, indicated, in some ways it is still quite a fragile qualification, but none the less a successful one, which was first offered in 2001. Since then, the number of students taking foundation degrees has grown from 4,200 to the latest figure of 47,000. Indeed, I understand that Foundation Degree Forward anticipates that something like 60,000 foundation degrees will be awarded in the current year. The current arrangements are therefore well on the way to delivering what the Minister hopes to achieve—100,000 by 2010. Foundation degrees are a distinctive qualification. The requirement that employers should be involved in their design and delivery has provided an enormously fruitful platform for working relationships between universities, colleges and employers of exactly the type that the Government want to proliferate, a point firmly backed up by the Leitch Report, which was published just last week and to which so many noble Lords have referred. Foundation degrees have provided a valuable catalyst for collaboration between further and higher education institutions. At Leeds Metropolitan University, for example, they have played a crucial role in providing the basis for collaboration between the university and 15 colleges across the northern region. My noble friend Lord Sawyer eloquently told the House how successful the University of Teesside has been and what this Bill might put at risk. Also, because the foundation degree has provided a bridge for students in further education or in employment with the world of higher education, the qualification has become a central plank in many universities’ efforts to widen participation, helping them to reach students who might otherwise never have considered progressing to university. We know that foundation degrees have a proven track record in delivering progression to higher education. Fifty-nine per cent of foundation degree graduates go on to further study, the majority at honours degree level. So I can entirely see why the Government look at foundation degrees and ask, ““How can we get more of this?””. I know that Ministers hope that by extending foundation degree-awarding powers to FE colleges they will encourage more institutions to offer the qualifications and increase the number of students and employers choosing them. But I do not believe that this Bill provides the right answer. Like others, I am disappointed that the Government did not consult on these plans before the Bill was published, because, like the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, and my noble friend Lady Blackstone, I think that these measures may have unintended and quite serious consequences. I would not be surprised if some said, ““Well, universities would say that, wouldn’t they? Isn’t this really an example of universities wanting to protect the degree brand and their markets?””. But I would not expect this House or indeed the Government to be swayed by those kinds of self-interested arguments. Many noble Lords have shown that there are very real concerns that go much deeper than that. I also think that there is a real danger that Clause 19 could produce the opposite effect to the one that the Government intend. I think that it could lead to a reduction rather than an expansion in take-up of foundation degrees. I shall explain why. First, we know that the fact that foundation degrees have the word ““degree”” in their title and are awarded by universities is a powerful reason why students and employers choose them. The reputation of our universities for providing high quality plays a large part in the attractiveness of the qualification, even when it is delivered in collaboration with an FE college. On what evidence have the Government based their assumption that uptake of foundation degrees will increase if they are awarded by further education colleges rather than by universities? Secondly, foundation degrees were originally conceived as a stepping-stone qualification that would enable students to study perhaps, or often, in conjunction with work or while based at a local FE college, but which would also give them the option of topping up to a full honours degree when they gained the confidence to do so. That built-in progression route, currently an essential element of every foundation degree programme, might no longer exist if the connection with universities is broken. That would be bad from the students' point of view, potentially narrowing their range of options, but it might also contribute to relatively decreasing the attractiveness of the qualification to potential students. Thirdly, what incentive will universities have to continue working with further education colleges to develop and deliver foundation degrees when those FE colleges are liable to become direct competitors? I know that many other noble Lords have expressed that concern. Vice-chancellors have told me that the likely result of this move is that they will withdraw the support that they currently provide to colleges in delivering foundation degrees. The reason is that universities will not know which FE colleges are likely to seek their own degree-awarding powers, either immediately or in the future. My fear is that there is very likely to be a period of planning blight in which universities are reluctant to collaborate with FE colleges that might become their future competitors. Given that uncertainty, the pace of the development to which I referred earlier—the helpful development in foundation degrees—will slow. So there is a real danger that both the uptake and the provision of foundation degree places will contract rather than expand as a result of the measures in the Bill. I realise that I may be painting an overly pessimistic picture, but those are all possible outcomes that, as has already been indicated, might result from the Bill. I look to the Minister for reassurance that steps can be taken to safeguard confidence in the quality of foundation degrees among prospective students and employers. If the Government are determined to make this change, it is vital that we have confidence that further education colleges will be subject to the same rigorous quality assurance mechanisms as universities. In reinforcing that point, I ask the Minister whether he agrees that the current criteria for degree-awarding powers should provide a starting point for developing the criteria for this new category of degree. Can he reassure me that the Quality Assurance Agency will have a role in monitoring quality in the institutions that gain degree-awarding powers under the Bill? Finally, will the Minister rethink the provisions in Clause 19 that would allow FE colleges to validate provision in other institutions? I do not believe that this issue has been referred to by other noble Lords. In my view, not only would that increase the likelihood of mission drift among those colleges in receipt of these new powers, but it might also do irreparable damage to the reputation of UK higher education in what we all know to be an increasingly competitive international market. I do not support Clause 19. I think that it could have a damaging effect, undoing much of the good that has been done in promoting collaboration between further and higher education. If it is to remain in the Bill, there is real work to be done to improve the current drafting. I look forward to taking part in that work in Committee.