EXPANDING HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE U.K: FROM ‘SYSTEM SLOWDOWN’ TO ‘SYSTEM ACCELERATION’



interventionist approach to the labour market by Government than has so far been demonstrated
(Hodgson & Spours 1999).

These policies pose the question of the future direction of development of the education and
training system in this country. We do not have an effective full-time education system 16-19 (as
is the case in France or Sweden) nor do we have a reputable apprenticeship system (as does
Germany or Austria). As we have described at length in this paper, we have a fragmented ‘mixed
system’ with a variety of routes, each of which under-perform and which are, to varying degrees,
disconnected one from another. Our answer is the creation of a more connective system based on
qualifications reform underpinned by collaborative institutional arrangements and stronger
incentives and frameworks related to education and, in particular, to the workplace.

The last strong phase of higher education expansion in the late 1980s and early 1990s was
demand-led as a whole cohort of students, encouraged by unprecedented examination success,
sought to participation in university education. In the mid-1990s, however, growth in 16-19
attainment and participation slowed dramatically and this plateauing trend fed through eventually
to higher education participation rates. The Government’s new target for higher education
expansion is rooted in this more difficult context.

Because of this we have argued that it is important to focus on constructing a supply of students
over the next decade by systematically reforming all the routeways feeding higher education and
also to focus on the role of employers. If this was to take place along the lines suggested in this
paper, with the emphasis on learners gradually accumulating evidence of achievement within a
more unified qualifications system and supported by labour market and progression incentives,
the new target could be reached.

These comprehensive set of measures outlined to boost progression routes will take time to take
effect. Nevertheless, the virtue of a ‘progression-oriented and system reform’ approach is that it
could produce a steady but sustainable growth in higher education participation of ‘younger
learners’ and, at the same time, underpin the Government’s flagship policy in this area - the
Foundation Degree initiative. By focusing on the different dimensions of system improvement
rather than simply depending on new initiatives, such an approach may also place the wider
education and training system in a stronger position to support genuine lifelong learning in the
future.

20



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