Alex Proudfoot, Chief Executive of Independent Higher Education (IHE), said:
“We strongly welcome the Government's Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper. Its policies are bricks in the foundations of a unified tertiary education and skills system that can support the ambitions of learners of all ages to enhance their professional prospects while helping to grow our economy.
"The IHE vision for tertiary education has always centred on empowering students to make properly informed choices of what, when and how to study throughout their lives, while removing all barriers that prevent providers from responding to these choices with innovation, flexibility and a more personalised approach. Many of our Members already offer flexible pathways that allow students to step on and step off to learn what they need when they need it, so we welcome the proposal to extend this same flexibility to every higher education student.
"The White Paper recognises the pivotal role that LLE will play as a framework for flexible learning, tying together for the first time under regulation and funding the formerly siloed further and higher education sectors to make new pathways possible which combine knowledge and skills from across academic and technical disciplines to prepare people for cutting-edge careers in modern global industries. IHE Members have long straddled this interdisciplinary divide, facing burdensome overlapping regulation and inaccessible funding regimes for their trouble. A more unified tertiary approach will benefit students, employers and society.
"IHE Members are collaborative pioneers of industry-powered professional education and centres of technical excellence. The launch of new higher technical awarding powers that prioritise innovation over bureaucracy, as first imagined in our Manifesto last year, will put these industry leaders in the driving seat of designing and delivering the next generation of higher technical qualifications that meet our 21st century economic needs.
"We welcome the Government's ambition to encourage more employer investment in the skills and professional development of their workforce. The collaborations that IHE Members have put in place to co-fund provision with industry are often hampered by inefficient regulatory processes and a lack of joined-up thinking. It is right that Government explore how these can thrive in the new funding model.
"We also welcome the Government's public confirmation today that subcontracting will be better regulated, but not banned, and we are grateful for their continued engagement on this important policy issue. Ministers have rightly recognised that academic partnerships enrich the higher education sector by supporting a more diverse ecosystem of provision that can continuously evolve to meet a wide range of industry and community needs – keeping the sector dynamic, agile and open to innovation.
"But requiring more providers to register under the existing OfS process is not a panacea. It is right that Government has recognised the need for a more efficient entry process, which should be focused on robust due diligence, greater transparency and accountability for all providers. We look forward to working with OfS and DfE to ensure regulation has this balance right."