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Higher Education

One area where the current pressures are most severe is in the delivery of higher education in further education. Because universities are under financial pressure, some are retrenching and withdrawing support for higher education courses that are delivered in local further education colleges. We very much regret that trend, which is something to which my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland and The Deepings (Mr. Hayes) may refer in his speech at the end of this debate—if he succeeds in catching your eye, Madam Deputy Speaker—because higher education in further education is a cost-effective and flexible form of provision.