Minister urges caution on reports of FE funding shortfall
Schools and Leaerners Minister Jim Knight issued a clarifaction on 3 April 2009 over an error in which the Learning and Skills Council led schools and colleges to believe their funding allocations had been finalised when in fact they were still under consideration.
The Minister’s written statement to Parliament follows reports that sixth forms and further education colleges would next year not receive full funding to cover their current student numbers or any additional student numbers.
Mr Knight said: “Unfortunately, as the LSC has now said in its statement this afternoon, that letter incorrectly said that these were final allocations, and it has apologised for any confusion and concern this has subsequently caused...”
“As part of our wider discussions in the National Economic Council on what more we can do to support the economy, we are still working across government on the extra financial support we need to provide for the new learners that are coming forward.
Denham accepts college building “crisis” report recommendations
Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, John Denham accepted the conclusions of a report by Sir Andrew Foster that the crisis in college building programmes was “was predictable and probably avoidable”. The Secretary of State has accepted all of the report’s recommendations.
Mr Denham noted that the Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) had already resigned as a result of the crisis.
CBI claims employers need support to target training during recession
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has announced the publication of a survey which foun d that employers are looking to get more out of staff training during the recession to help their business survive, but employers feel the Government's flagship Train to Gain programme could be making more of an impact on their business.
The CBI's Director-General, Richard Lambert, said: "During turbulent times, it would be understandable if firms have to reduce their training budgets but this survey shows that they are most concerned with getting more value from their training, to ensure they are better placed for an upturn when it comes."
Higher education unions criticise employers’ failure to make pay offer
The University and College Union (UCU) expressed amazement that the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association (UCEA) chose not to make a pay offer to the higher education unions at last week’s pay talks.
The union said the decision did little to bolster confidence of financial competence in the sector. It added that with job losses being threatened across higher education, its leaders have clearly been focusing on dumping, rather than rewarding, staff.
UCU and the other unions (EIS GMB, UNISON and Unite) said they will be discussing the employers’ initial reaction and will be seeking further discussions to tease out the money available for this year’s pay round for all staff.
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: “UCU had hoped that the pay talks would have been used to discuss pay. Both sides have recently agreed a new negotiating timetable and we were somewhat staggered that UCEA seemed to blatantly disregard it. The employers need to get their act together, and fast, as the unions were unimpressed with what they saw yesterday.
UUK responds to new immigration rules for international students
Universities UK has issued a response to the new immigration measures which came into force on 01 April 2009. The measures will have an impact on how international students apply to study in the UK.
Diana Warwick, Chief Executive of Universities UK urged the Home Office “to implement the system pragmatically as guidance on the system for students and institutions has only been finalised in the last three weeks allowing very little time for students and institutions to understand and interpret the requirements of the new system”.
The UUK chief executive said: “We must also ensure that considerable focus is given overseas to communicating the detail of the changes to prospective students and their advisers.
Looking further ahead we will be seeking extensive testing of the new IT system that will underpin the arrangements from later this year as the IT needs to be robust to handle the large number of student visa applications, especially during the peak period of July, August and September. International students only have a limited timeframe within which to apply for a visa and any delays due to IT difficulties could be very serious.”
Diana Warwick added: “International activities of UK universities contribute around £5 billion to the economy each year and this success depends on mobility. Our universities work hard to attract them and offer them a high quality education so it's vital that we send out the message that the UK welcomes international students.”
Home Office targets “bogus colleges”
The Home Office announced on Tuesday 31 March that almost a quarter of applications from independent schools, colleges and universities have been screened out under new systems for tackling bogus colleges and fraudulent applications from foreign students.
More than 2,100 universities, independent schools and colleges have applied to accept international students, though 460 institutions had their applications rejected.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith commented 'These new measures make sure people who come here to study - and the people who teach them - play by the rules.
This new tier of the points based system allows us to know exactly who is coming to the UK to study and crack down on bogus colleges. I have made it clear that I will not tolerate either the fraudulent applicants trying to abuse Britain's immigration rules, or the dodgy colleges that facilitate them.
However Britain will always welcome legitimate students who are coming here to receive a first-rate education.'