Higher education in England is becoming increasingly expensive for individuals. Meanwhile, questions are being raised around the return on investment for the Treasury, and employers are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit skilled people. That’s why the Association of Colleges is calling for a radical re-design of England’s post-18 education system.
Our paper – 2030 and beyond: an upgraded post-18 education system – includes proposals for a number of new measures, including a new technical higher education offer delivered flexibly and locally in partnership with employers, and the introduction of a new maintenance grant for full and part-time students, linked to the current free school meals threshold. But it is our calls to reintroduce a minimum entry requirement for under-21s taking up BA and BSc degrees that seems to have got lots of people talking.
