Lifelong Learning Statistics 2005

Chapter 2: Further Education

Introduction

Scotland's 46 Further Education Colleges ¹ deliver a range of provision, including further education (vocational and non vocational programmes), courses leading to higher education qualifications (mainly HNC and HND), and specialist provision (for example to disabled people, people with learning difficulties or additional support needs and people whose first language is not English). Most further education level courses are delivered in further education colleges, including provision in outreach centres.

Further education is defined as non school education that is not at advanced level, i.e. at SVQ level 3 or below or level 6 or below in the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework ( SCQF), i.e. below HNC level.

A further education programme at one of Scotland's colleges can be either vocational or non-vocational. This chapter will deal mainly with vocational enrolments, as these make up the majority of FE activity. A vocational programme is one primarily designed to provide knowledge, skill or proficiency in specific subjects that prepare students for employment or a profession, or enhance the skills of those already working. All programmes primarily designed for students released from employment, and programmes leading to recognised external qualifications are regarded as vocational.

Further education colleges are funded by the Scottish Further Education Funding Council. Allocated funding for 2003-04 totalled £428 million, of which £21 million was allocated for improvement of estates and £61 million for student support. This total increased in 2004-05 to £533 million (all figures from Main Grant Letter).

In addition to public sector funding, colleges receive (i.) fee income from some categories of students and (ii.) contract income, for example when programmes are delivered for commercial clients.

In 2003-04, Scotland's colleges employed 21,779 staff (12,460 full-time equivalent). Of these 13,430 were teaching staff - 6,430 full-time equivalent. 76% of college activity was expended on further education.

Enrolments at Further Education Colleges

Table 2.1 below shows that in 2003-04 there were altogether a total of 467,170 enrolments - the majority on a part-time basis. Of these 55,610 were in higher education courses - these students are included in the statistics reported in the chapter on higher education. 59,270 enrolments were for non-vocational classes. This chapter concentrates on the 352,290 vocational enrolments at further education colleges.

It should be noted that enrolments do not always equate to the number of students as one student can have more than one enrolment. Some students enrol on several programmes in the same academic year - and some students attend college while still at school, as part of an school college partnership. Removing multiple enrolments within the same college shows that in 2003-04 around 326,000 students studied at further education level.

Table 2.1: Enrolments at FE Colleges, 2003-04

Enrolments at colleges	Full-time	Part-time	Total
Total Vocational	74,685	333,220	407,900
Total HE	26,945	28,670	55,610
Postgraduate	15	190	205
First Degree	300	855	1,155
Sub-Degree	26,630	27,625	54,250
Total FE	48,185	363,380	411,560
Vocational	47,740	304,550	352,290
Non-Vocational	440	58,830	59,270
Total²	75,130	392,050	467,170

Source: SE and SFEFC

Vocational Further Education Enrolments

Chart 2.A below shows the number of enrolments in vocational FE courses during the past 10 years.

Chart 2.A: Vocational Further Education Enrolments at FE Colleges, by Gender, 1994-95 to 2003-04

Source: SE and SFEFC

While the number of vocational enrolments has decreased since 2001-02 chart 2.B shows that the number of student hours in vocational courses has actually increased, indicating that students are generally enrolling on more intensive vocational programmes.

Chart 2.B: Student Hours in Vocational Further Education, by Gender, 1998-99 to 2003-04

Source: SFEFC Infact service

Vocational Enrolments - Age and Gender

While around 30% of vocational enrolments are from students aged under 20 further education is delivered to a whole range of ages. Females are in the majority in all age groups except for the age group up to 20 (Table 2.2 and Chart 2.C).

Table 2.2: Vocational Enrolments, Age and Gender, 2003-04

Age	Male	Female	All¹	% of total
up to 20	58,960	52,920	111,880	32%
21-24	12,255	15,145	27,400	8%
25-29	10,980	16,715	27,695	8%
30-34	11,785	19,680	31,465	9%
35-39	12,405	22,515	34,920	10%
40-44	11,500	21,105	32,605	9%
45-49	9,295	17,090	26,390	7%
50-54	7,365	13,100	20,465	6%
55-59	6,140	9,795	15,935	5%
60+	9,205	14,330	23,535	7%
All ages	149,890	202,395	352,290	100%

Source: SE and SFEFC
¹ Totals may not sum due to rounding

Chart 2.C: Vocational Enrolments, Age and Gender, 2003-04

Vocational Enrolments - Subjects and Levels Studied

Table 2.3 below shows the subjects of vocational enrolments. With over 66,000 enrolments IT was the most popular subject group, followed by Business and Finance, and Social Science. For engineering and architecture/construction courses the level of qualification sought is particularly high - around 20% seeking SVQ level 3. Physical sciences and also mathematics are also studied at that level, but students taking more typically higher or advanced higher exams. Most other subjects are studied to other or no qualifications. The percentage studying for no recognised qualification is particularly high for law, languages, creative art and design and education.

Table 2.3: Subjects and Levels Studied, 2003-04

Subject group	SVQ level 3	SVQ level 2	SVQ level 1	Higher /Adv Higher	Interm	Other Cert/ Diploma	Other Qual.	No Recognised Qual.	Total enrolements
Allied Med	2%	1%	0%	1%	1%	31%	39%	24%	21,015
Biological Science	5%	3%	7%	8%	0%	17%	40%	20%	4,480
Veterinary	10%	11%	0%	0%	0%	10%	37%	32%	575
Agriculture	4%	6%	1%	0%	1%	27%	28%	34%	13,685
Physical Science	0%	0%	0%	41%	2%	1%	12%	44%	1,000
Maths	0%	0%	0%	16%	6%	1%	44%	34%	2,690
Information Technology	0%	0%	0%	0%	2%	22%	42%	34%	66,370
Engineering	16%	8%	2%	0%	1%	19%	29%	25%	23,235
Architecture/ Building	23%	15%	2%	0%	1%	10%	25%	24%	15,775
Social Science	8%	8%	0%	10%	5%	11%	36%	21%	40,215
Law	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	6%	25%	69%	250
Business & Finance	4%	7%	1%	1%	3%	24%	39%	21%	46,935
Librarianship & Info Science	0%	0%	0%	7%	1%	13%	53%	26%	7,835
Languages	0%	0%	0%	4%	2%	3%	30%	60%	15,210
Humanities	0%	0%	0%	29%	1%	1%	55%	13%	1,780
Creative Arts& Design	2%	8%	1%	2%	1%	7%	30%	48%	32,730
Education	3%	2%	0%	0%	2%	11%	37%	45%	23,240
Combined/ General	0%	2%	0%	4%	0%	10%	33%	50%	35,260
Total	4%	5%	1%	3%	2%	16%	36%	34%	352,290

Source: SE and SFEFC

Learning Outcomes

SFEFC publish figures on student retention, including completion of courses, in their annual Performance Indicator report: 95 per cent of college students progressed in 2003-04 past the first quarter of their course and 84 per cent of these stayed until the end of their programme (this analysis is weighted according to course intensity). Looking only at vocational further education enrolments gives the same results: 95 per cent completed more than one quarter of the course length and 84 per cent of those completed the programme.

Table 2.4: Qualifications Studied for and Outcomes of Study, 2003-04

	SVQ level 3	SVQ level 2	SVQ level 1	Higher /Adv Higher	Interm	Other Cert/ Diploma	Other Qual.	No Recognised Qual.	Total enrolments
Assessed - successful	37%	41%	44%	44%	55%	53%	51%	25%	145,595
Assessed - not successful	6%	5%	8%	22%	15%	10%	9%	1%	23,395
Completed - not assessed	49%	40%	32%	13%	11%	25%	27%	65%	142,055
Other outcomes	8%	13%	15%	21%	19%	12%	13%	9%	41,245
Total	15,490	16,380	2,205	10,305	6,325	56,830	126,245	118,505	352,290

Source: SE and SFEFC

Business Funding

Colleges deliver a range of courses directly to business and commerce clients where the client pays the full course costs, in 2003-04 these covered 15,375 vocational enrolments. In addition to this full course costs were recovered from public authorities in respect of 4,225 enrolments.

Course fees for an additional 55,840 vocational enrolments were paid by industry and commerce. Fees for 2,045 enrolments were funded by the New Deal programme.

Financial Support and Access

This section reports on measures to ensure fair access to further education. It includes funding for learners and specific groups, such as disabled people and people with additional support needs.

In addition to bursary and EMA support, described in more detail below, students also have access to Adult Dependent Grant, Childcare Funds and Hardship Funds. Most students had their fee waived. However for 122,980 enrolments a fee was charged to the participant, that is 38% of all enrolments for which fee information is known

Bursaries

The number of student enrolments receiving bursary support in further education colleges was 35,960, around 10% of all vocational enrolments. Bursary support is discretionary.

Table 2.5: Number of Students Supported by Bursaries, 2002-03

Type of Allowance	Student Numbers
Maintenance	22,360
Residence	235
Study	29,275
Travel	28,465
Special Educational Needs	1,905
Other	595
Total Students in Receipt of a Bursary	35,960

Note: The same student could apply for more than one allowance

Education Maintenance Allowance ( EMA)

EMAs were launched across Scotland in August 2004 to provide financial support to young people from low income families who are studying full-time at school or college. This support comes in the form of a means-tested weekly payment of either £10, £20 or £30. Support in the first year of roll-out was given to pupils/students aged 16, however the allowance will be rolled out to the remaining age groups (17-19) during the next three years. Further information on the EMA scheme can be obtained from the links at the end of the chapter.

Table 2.6 shows the number of EMA recipients in further education colleges. It can be seen that the vast majority of students (84%) receive weekly payments of £30 and are therefore in the lowest income group.

Table 2.6: Number of Students Receiving EMA Payments in Colleges, January 2005

	Total Students¹	% of Total
£10	430	9%
£20	340	7%
£30	3,915	84%
Total	4,685	100%

Source: SE and SFEFC
¹ Student numbers have been rounded to the nearest 5, therefore totals may not sum due to rounding

Additional Support Needs

3,830 enrolments received Extended Learning Support, that is, extra funding paid to colleges in respect of students on mainstream courses who have additional support needs. In addition there were 29,095 enrolments in Special Programmes - 8% of all vocational FE enrolments. These programmes are specifically designed to meet the needs of students with learning difficulties arising from disability, social, emotional and behavioural difficulties or mental health problems. These students will have a Personal Learning Support Plan.

Overall, 28,425 vocational enrolments (8%) were by students who had declared a disability, around half of these were on Special Programmes or received Extended Learning Support.

Over the past two years the number of enrolments by disabled students has increased by 26%.

Table 2.7 shows the types of disability reported. For around 70,000 enrolments the disability status was not known or the information had been refused.

Table 2.7: Type of Disability Reported, 2003-04

Disability	Number of enrolments
Dyslexia	3,490
Blind/partially sighted	790
Deaf/hearing impaired	1,535
Wheelchair/mobility	1,930
Personal care	370
Mental health	2,880
Unseen disability	5,365
Multiple disabilities	3,070
Other disability	8,990
All disabilities	28,425

Source: SE and SFEFC

Adult Literacy and Numeracy Provision

This service is an example of the way colleges work in partnership with other providers: in this case local authorities through their community education programme and voluntary organisations. At times there will be dedicated provision for this group of students and at other times ALN provision will be integrated into another course of learning.

Table 2.8: Adult Literacy and Numeracy - Number of New Enrolments, 2003-04

Number of enrolments	Local Authority	FE college	Voluntary Sector	Other Provider	Total Provision
Dedicated	7,373	4,998	1,168	740	14,279
Integrated	3,022	7,851	822	1,892	13,587
Total	10,395	12,849	1,990	2,632	27,866

Source: The Analysis and Evaluation of Local Authority Literacy and Numeracy End of Year Reports 2003-04: September 2004, University of Glasgow

Summary

This chapter has shown the increase in the number of vocational FE enrolments from 1994-95 to 2001-02 followed by a decrease to 2003-04. Although the number of enrolments has fallen in the last few years, the number of student hours has increased, suggesting that students are enrolling on more intensive programmes of study.

In the latest year, 2003-04, nearly a third of vocational enrolments are students in the 20 and under age group, whilst 57% of all enrolments are women, who outnumber men in all age groups, except the group under 20 years.

Information on subjects studied and the level of qualification sought has shown that in a range of subjects students tend to seek recognised qualifications within the SVQ or SCQF framework. However in other subjects the number of students aiming for recognised qualifications is lower.

The chapter concludes with a look at various forms of support students can receive, in particular support to students from specific disadvantaged groups. The support packages available attempt to ensure that students receive fair and equal access to study at further education level.