Since the last newsletter we have seen the publication of the government Higher Education Green Paper (Please click here for a summary). Whilst the Green Paper is a consultative document it seems likely that the HE sector in the UK will see the introduction of a Teaching Excellence Framework, the creation of an Office for Students and a move towards the reduction of barriers to entry for new providers. Exactly how this plays out remains to be seen but what is clear is that change is on its way with an emphasis on increasing transparency and widening student choice in higher education. If you would like to contribute to the discussion please go to the Government website.
BAC itself has had a busy 2015; in April BAC became full members of ENQA and was included in the EQAR register in June. We have moved to new premises near Liverpool Street station and at the same time, seen an increase in staffing. In terms of infrastructure, we will be investing in technology to allow us to deliver workshops and training over the internet. We are also currently testing a ‘walled garden’ designed to encourage the sharing of good practice and to open up discussion and dialogue between accredited BAC institutions. Both of these new developments will go live in January 2016 and will improve communication between BAC and institutions and we hope, between accredited institutions.
As well as being the last newsletter for 2015 this will be the last newsletter in its current format. As from January there will be a UK focused newsletter and an international newsletter. The international newsletter letter will have a Higher Education and Transnational education focus. The decision to launch a new newsletter means we will be better able to produce relevant and meaningful content for accredited institutions.
I hope you have a good Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
The Prevent Strategy
As from the autumn of 2015 The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 introduced the Prevent duty for various bodies including all FE colleges, sixth form colleges, adult education providers and independent learning providers. The Prevent duty’s aim is to help stop vulnerable people from being exploited and drawn into terrorism.
This affects all education providers in the UK and means that every institution should have a Prevent Policy in place. The Education & Training Foundation has developed a set of free training modules for a wide range of organisations and positions. The training modules are well worth the effort of having a look at and are designed for practitioners rather than a theoretical approach.
The full list of the workshops organised by BAC can viewed here.
If you are a BAC accredited institution please do contact us to get your discount code at events@the-bac.org
The cost for BAC accredited institutions is £99.00 (£225.00 for non-accredited institutions).
INSPECTOR'S CORNER
This month Ian Fleming talks about Governance arrangements for small independent colleges:
The theme of good governance is increasingly significant for independent colleges, particularly those with higher education provision. In terms of educational oversight, both QAA and ISI place considerable emphasis upon governance, but there is perhaps not always complete clarity about what is involved or about the steps that an institution needs to take to ensure that it addresses its governance arrangements in a positive and realistic manner.
To read the full article please go to theBAC website.
GOVERNMENT AND POLICY NEWS
Spending Review:
- The Chancellor announced that Sixth Form Colleges can become Academies too– so they no longer have to pay VAT.
- 500 new Free Schools and University Technical Colleges will open.
- The government will not cut core adult skills funding for FE colleges – The government will instead protect it in cash terms.
- Student maintenance grants will be replaced by larger student loans.
- Part-time students will be able to receive maintenance loans - helping some of our poorer students.
- Tuition fee loans will also be provided for those studying higher skills in FE – loans to all postgraduates will be extended.
(Source: Government; 25 November 2015). Please read the full transcript of the speech from the Government website.UKTI has just launched the EXPORTING IS GREAT website. You can find many opportunities there. Please do visit theExporting is great websiteto see opportunities. (Some opportunities have been included in the "opportunities" category of the newsletter.The green paper "Higher education: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice" has now been published and is now open for consultation. Please go to theGovernment website for more details. Deadline: 15 January 2016.
UK INDUSTRY NEWS
"The Chartered Institution for Further Education (CIFE), which was granted the Great Seal of the Realm in October having been set up in 2013, announced on November 17 2015 that colleges and independent learning providers (ILPs) could apply for membership." (Source: FE week; 22 November 2015). For more information please go to the FE week website.
"The major issues facing the education sector and training providers have been recently highlighted by the Association for Learning Technology (ALT):
- The pace of innovation and technological advancement.
- The need to keep iterating security, data protection, hardware and operations to be efficient and effective. - A lack of digital skills or literacy"
(Source: FE news; 19 November 2015). For more details please go to the FE website.
"Ofqual could narrow the grounds for re-marking by concentrating on correcting “genuine errors”, rather than allowing different interpretations of mark schemes to change marks."
(Source: The Guardian; 18 November 2015). For more information please go to the Guardian website.
"Higher education providers that close courses should offer students alternative programmes or help them transfer to another institution, and offer them a refund if this is not possible.
This is according to new guidelines that have been agreed by membership organisations including Universities UK, GuildHE and the Independent Universities Group. The Association of Colleges and Study UK, which represents independent providers, has also put its name to the document."
(Source: THE; 11 November 2015). For more information please go to the THE website.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
"Canada had an overall growth rate of 10% in international student enrolments from 2013-2014, with 336,497 international students studying in Canada in 2014 – up 83% in a decade.
Key source countries are China, India, South Korea, France and Saudi Arabia, followed by the US and Brazil.
Overall, Chinese students account for 33% of the international student population. Nigeria and Vietnam are the fastest rising markets in terms of source countries"
(Source: The Pie News; 24 November 2015). Please go to the Pie News website for more information Universities across Europe are merging or forming alliances more and more.
"Almost 100 mergers have taken place since the beginning of the century. The European University Association (EUA), representing universities in 47 countries, is mapping this changing landscape with an interactive merger map.
According to Thomas Estermann, director for governance, funding and public policy development at the EUA, one of the reasons would be that bigger universities can gain higher profiles and boost global reputations. Mergers are also a way of "streamlining" and reducing duplication." (Source: BBC; 25 November 2015). Please go to the BBC websitefor more information.OECD has published on 24 November 2015 "Education at a Glance 2015". OECD Indicators is the authoritative source for accurate information on the state of education around the world. You can download the OECD indicators from the OECD website."Malaysia aims to nearly double its international enrolment from more than 135,000 foreign students in 2014 to 250,000 by 2025." (Source: ICEF Monitor; 27 November 2015). For further details please go to theICEF monitor website."Myanmar is opening up to foreign investment and international education. Foreign providers can enter the market and operate directly within Myanmar, whether by opening schools or by establishing links with domestic institutions or partners. Foreign institutions or schools may also recruit students from Myanmar to study abroad." (Source: ICEF monitor; 18 November 2015).
Please go to the ICEF monitor website for more information."One in ten students on Dutch higher education campuses were international. According to statistics from the Center for the Internationalisation of Education in the Netherlands.
European students account for the majority of the foreign student population (56,288), led by German students who make up almost a quarter (24,000) of the total. China however provided the second largest portion of students, 6,642, while non-European students overall reached 22,802."
(Source: The Pie News; 17 November 2015). For more information please go to thePie News website."The number of international students studying in the US in 2014-2015 increased by 10%, the largest growth the country has seen in more than three decades. 58% of international students come from China, India, South Korea and Saudi Arabia. China is the largest contributor of international students, making up 31% of total international students in the country. India is the true growth story this year with numbers increasing by almost 30%." (Source: The Pie News; 26 November 2015). For more information please go to thePie News website. "China’s Ministry of Education announced a three-year action plan for higher vocational education on 3 November 2015. The main elements of the plan include increasing the autonomy of higher vocational institutions and increasing the focus on quality rather than total enrollment." (Source: British Council; 13 November 2015). Please go to the British Council website for more information.The results of the The 2015 Agent Barometer survey have been published.
- "The most common type of study for which agents recruit is language courses (80%, up from 70% in 2014), with undergraduate next (77%) and post-graduate right behind with 74% each. Next are MBA programmes and foundation courses (62% each – up from 45% and 47%, respectively, in 2014).
- Over half of agents said they recruit for vocational programmes (51%), secondary/high school (54%), certificate/foundation courses (54%), pre-masters/post-graduate qualifying programmes (55%), and diplomas (57%).
- In terms of emerging destinations, more than half of responding agents expect they will refer more students to Malaysia, Singapore, China, and South Korea.
- Agents consider marketing and visits to local schools/colleges as well as institutions participating in in-country exhibitions (50% “very important”) the top promotional tactics for educators."
(Source: ICEF monitor; 2 November 2015)
More details from the results of the survey can be found on theICEF monitor website.
OPPORTUNITIES
Institutional Skills grants – Brazil-UK training programmes
The Newton Fund in Brazil is offering grants between £10,000 and £100,000, to develop new UK-Brazil training programmes to support staff or researchers in public and civil society institutions, science museums and botanic gardens.
Deadline: The deadline is 20 January 2016, at 18.00 (Brasília time).
For further details and how to apply please go to theBritish Council website.
Russian press tour to British educational institutions, January 2016 11 January, 2016 - 15 January, 2016
Audience: Higher Education institutions, Further Education Institutions, Schools & Independent Colleges and ELT providers.
The British Council is organizing press visit to UK institutions. They are going to send 4 journalists from the leading general interest and business media with strong website presence in Russia interested in education accompanied by 1 British Council staff.
Please go to the British Council website for more details.
Brazil - Opportunity for providers of educational training courses in health
A Brazilian university is looking for British providers of training courses in different medical specialties
Deadline: 21 March 2016
For more information please go to the Export is Great website.
China - Opportunity to form a joint university focusing on international tourism
The local government is now supporting a project to establish a Sino-foreign collaborative educational institution focusing on international tourism. This new college will be built as a university with about 3,000 to 4,000 full-time students from undergraduate to postgraduate level.
The university is looking for an overseas university partner that has top education resources in international tourism.
Deadline: 15/03/2016
Please go to theExporting is Great website for more information.
Nigeria - Education institution seeks partnership with universities
Fast growing private institution in Nigeria seeks collaboration with UK university to deliver Executive M.BA programmes.
Deadline: 22 March 2016.
For more information please go to the Exporting is Great website.
*NEWLY ACCREDITED INSTITUTIONS
Universidad Chileno - Britanica de Cultura: UCBC delivers courses in four key areas which are approved as undergraduate within the Chilean higher education system: Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), Translation English into Spanish, General Primary Education and Pre-School Education. For more information please go to the Universidad Chilen-Britanica de Cultura website.
National University - Sudan: All teaching at NUSU is conducted in English. Currently the range of programmes embraces bachelor degrees in the following subject areas: medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, medical laboratory science, nursing and midwifery, radiography, physiotherapy, health informatics and administrative science. The latter includes business administration, accounting, marketing and business information systems. For more information please visit the National University website.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Conference on Implementing the new Counter Terrorism Prevent duty Organised by Study UK London, TBC 9 December 2015
This conference is aimed at Higher Education Institutions.
To view the programm please click here.
To register please click here.
Preventing and Tackling School Bullying Organised by Inside Government 10 December 2015 - 8.45am - 4pm
The Caledonian Club, Central London
This Preventing and Tackling School Bullying forum will provide delegates with the opportunity to share best practice and explore new methods of tackling bullying and preventative strategies.
Regent’s University London International Partners’ Conference
organised by the the International Partnerships Office
6 January 22016 -8 January 2018
Regent's University London
