Alex Proudfoot, Chief Executive of Independent Higher Education (IHE), said:
“The policy principles set out today for the Lifelong Learning Entitlement represent a generation-defining moment for post-18 education and training in England.
“LLE will deliver the fundamental building blocks of a more flexible tertiary education system that puts learners in the driving seat by supporting their individual choices of what, when, where and how to study, while encouraging them to carry on learning throughout their working lives.
“The detail confirmed today renews the promise of LLE to usher in diverse, innovative and collaborative models of higher education that more closely track the needs of students, of specific industries, and of the wider economy.
“It answers IHE's call for credit-based funding and portability from our first Manifesto a decade ago, it commits to tackling the burden of overlapping regulation we raised in our most recent blueprint for change, and it lights the way for the flexible tertiary pathways and collaborative provision set out in our HE Reform proposals earlier this year.
“Today we are a step closer to achieving IHE's founding vision of a tertiary sector centred around students, in which academic and technical routes are integrated, journeys can be accelerated and decelerated, and individual learning goals are prioritised over the provider interest.
“LLE is a powerful example of the value of cross-party support for a bold idea whose time has come, but we are especially grateful to the Minister for Skills, the Rt Hon Baroness Jacqui Smith, for her early recognition of the transformative potential of this policy and her determined leadership to see it through to implementation."