OPEN SPACE EVENT ON THE FUTURE OF HIGHER AND FURTHER EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND
LIFELONG LEARNING DEPARTMENT, SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
GLASGOW ROYAL CONCERT HALL, MAY 2ND 2006
(You can download a PDF version of this document here)
THEME; What needs to be done in the short and medium term to ensure long term Further and Higher Education provision which delivers for the people of Scotland?
PARTICIPANTS; 80, who convened break-out groups on 13 issues with 47 proposed actions.
1.0 TOP EIGHT PRIORITIES VOTED BY PARTICIPANTS (NO. OF VOTES)
1. FUNDING. Funding needs to be more flexible (28 votes)
2. COLLABORATION. Needs to be greater collaboration between FE Colleges and Higher Education Institutions
(24 votes)
3. PRIVATE SECTOR. Role in education (20 votes)
4. COLLABORATION. There should be an improvement in collaboration, flexibility and funding etc. towards greater international competitiveness (18 votes)
5. DIVERSITY. How to represent an increasingly diverse range of students? (16 votes)
6. FEEDBACK. Making feedback (to students) work (16 votes)
7. LINKAGES. Linking school to college to university (14 votes)
8. ACCESS. Focus initiatives on getting people to universities who otherwise wouldn't be there (14 votes)
2.0 ISSUE AND ACTION SESSION NO. 1, 11.15 A.M. TO 12.30 P.M.(CONVENOR'S FIRST NAME) (NO. OF VOTES)
1. LIFE-LONG LEARNING AND THE REALITY (GORDON)
(1) L.L.L. is a life-long process. Recognition that we need to provide for changing needs and circumstances of the individual and wider society (industrial and social) (4 votes)
(2) Priority is for post-16 learning, ensuring that individuals have appropriate skills to meet the needs of employers; resources for clearly-targeted outcomes; real-cost implications of L.L.L. not recognised; need to balance L.L.L. priorities, but priority currently will remain in post-16 area.
(3) Challenge for colleges is to target funding more creatively
2. VALUE OF EDUCATION FOR ITS OWN SAKE VS EMPLOYABILITY (DAVID)
(1) Overall, be clear about underpinning values of education. Should context be local, wider Scottish, U.K., or world-wide? Drive future decisions by employability, diversity, citizenship and choice ( 9 votes)
(2) Dialogue between stakeholders about values set for 'learning sector' in Scotland, partnership, not an over-reliance on one set consensus about learning (3 votes)
(3) Recognition that progression need not be vertical, but learning as an experience e.g. degree student not allowed to take HND to become more employable in management (8 votes)
(4) Value prior learning - action is required around recognition (2 votes)
3. E-LEARNING (GEORGE)
(1) E-learning is not 'learning on the cheap' - it is new and expensive, may go on being expensive, requires physical infrastructure, software and staff development.
(2) Further research required, on early stage learning, pedagogy, the nature of learning and how it changes, and practice in Scotland being informed by the best elsewhere (2 votes)
(3) Scotland. Leader in this field? Size might make co-ordination easier. A virtual University of Scotland, drawing on a number of Depts from different Universities? (1 vote)
4. WIDENING ACCESS TO EDUCATION (JAMES)
(1) Funding. Both funding for learning and funding for institutions. Former has worry of top-up fees, problem of debt aversion, and complexity. Latter has problem of part-time HE funding, shift to post-grad studies, need for better community-based provision, support to finish courses, a lack of incentive to take wider access students (4 votes)
(2) School to college to university linkages. Defeating the poverty of aspiration at an early stage, in age group 10 to 21 a Strategic Education Initiative from the SE is required, FE to HE articulation through a credit transfer and credit recognition by employers (14 votes)
(3) Why are we doing this? To get people into college that wouldn't otherwise be there - all initiatives need to achieve this aim, potential negative effects of P.I., quota etc. (14 votes)
5. PARITY OF ESTEEM V. PARITY OF PAY (MARIAN)
(1) A funding formula is required which is fair and equitable for all colleges (7 votes)
(2) Parity of pay to be established through collective determination (similar to HE) (9 votes)
(3) Single point of entry for FE students in Scotland (UCES maybe!)
(4) Parity of esteem of FE qualifications - by marketing of sector qualifications and achievements. Full implementation of SCQF
6. BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS BETWEEN LEARNING PROVIDERS (MAGGIE)
(1) Structures, culture and systems; create flexible structures informed by understanding of each other's culture and student expectations (3 votes)
(2) Revisit expectations of linear learning; funding to follow student; responding to individual needs (7 votes)
(3) Identify clusters of expertise (1 vote)
7. INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS OF SCOTTISH HE/FE (ANTON)
(1) Improving collaboration; funding regime re. internationalisation; changing our culture towards collaboration, with better collective marketing, and improving flexibility of provision within HE/FE (18 votes)
(2) Improving regime re. EU students/non-EU immigrants; demographics, fresh talent, positioning Scottish education in Europe (3 votes)
(3) Encouraging diversity within tertiary sector; maximise competitiveness; retain capacity for flexibility; exploit creativity (Cox report); research excellence (2 votes)
8. PARTNERSHIP WORKING WITH PUBLIC SECTOR (LINDA)
(1) Planning horizon - local/regional/national and short/medium/long term
(2) Bottom up approach - share NHS Boards' workforce plans eith local education consortia?
(3) Communication; of priorities of partners; Education, sustainability plus money; NHS, governance and better commissioning/STD prices (1 vote)
(4) Sustainability for educational institutions (6 votes)
9. PART-TIME HE FUNDING AND CURRENT DISCRIMINATION (BOB)
(1) SAAS to review their financial support for p/t/ HE students to at least mirror p/t/ FE support (6 votes)
(2) Financial support for employers and institutions to increase p/t HE opportunities (11 votes)
(3) Cultural change to encourage lifelong learning (6 votes)
3.0 ISSUE AND ACTION SESSION NO. 2 ; 1.15 P.M. TO 2.30 P.M., (CONVENOR FIRST NAME) (NO. OF VOTES)
1. IF SCOTLAND BECOMES INDEPENDENT - IMPACT ON HE? (GEORGE)
(1) Should institutions and universities in Scotland be planning ahead, and considering risk analysis/ scenario planning? There is a need for a 'civic'society debate outwith the hothouse of party politics (5 votes)
(2) Keep contact up with civil servants and politicians, including research into different funding systems (European) (1 vote)
(3) Uncertainty ahead - a more honest exchange of views, what about top-up fees?; transition planning (5 votes)
2. SUSTAINABILITY OF THE CURRENT NUMBER OF COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (MARIAN)
(1) Greater collaboration between FECs and HEIs (24 votes)
(2) Greater synergy across/between sectors
(3) Possible future mergers - driven by needs of learners, supported by staff, students and the wider community (13 votes)
(4) Review of funding needed - funding following the learner (3 votes)
3. NATURE OF LEARNING INSTITUTIONS IN THE FUTURE (PAUL)
(1) Funding to be more flexible, requiring a less risk-averse environment, and a change in mindset (28 votes)
(2) Change the focus, from the supply side to a more demand-led situation
(3) How to differentiate the market - what skill sets are needed e.g. need more domestic or externally-resourced dentists
4. ROLE AND RE SPONSIBILITIES OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR IN EDUCATION (DAVID)
(1) Clarify the roles of the private sector e.g. as providers, consumers, enablers, or employers (20 votes)
(2) Clarify the roles and responsibilities of the government as 'enabler'/political motivator (3 votes)
(3) The nature of the contract with the government, and boundaries of acceptability
5. STUDENT REPRESENTATION (JAMES)
(1) How to represent an increasingly diverse range of students; willingness to engage, removing barriers, time for representation, continuity of representation, greater breadth and depth of people involved (16 vote
(2) Making feedback work; of all sorts, formal and informal, etc (16 votes)
(3) Beyond institutions - engagement in external bodies (QAA, SFC, etc), and how students input into the government's agenda