Survey shows potential role for FE colleges

A new UK based study shows that FE colleges have the potential and the enthusiasm to become involved in knowledge and technology exchange activities with business and industry.

A new study by the New Engineering Foundation has identified some startling contradictions that show, despite significant obstacles, colleges have the potential and the enthusiasm to become involved in knowledge and technology exchange activities with business and industry.

The report has surveyed over 50 further education colleges and interviewed over 200 companies in the UK.

The report highlighted a growing trend of FE lecturers wishing to engage in activities such as the design and delivery of industrial short courses, new product/service design or enhancement, industrial collaboration on sponsorship bids and education/industry staff exchanges.

Under the present funding structure, colleges do not receive direct funding (through LSC) for knowledge and technology exchange activities.

However, over two thirds of the colleges in the survey confirmed that they were engaging in knowledge and technology exchange activities.

It is perhaps ironic that, only recently, colleges have been slated by Government for not working closer with business and industry.

The Government's approach to knowledge and technology exchange has thus far been focused on universities, financing their activities through the Innovation Fund, and to a greater extent this approach is well justified.

However, the report clearly shows that business engagement is vital for colleges, delivering not only additional income streams, but other benefits such as equipping lecturers with up-to-date knowledge and giving students a more relevant, case-study packed curriculum.

In the report, 31% of colleges surveyed were involved in basic product development or product enhancement for companies in their local area.

A shining light example in this field is Gorseinon College, a small institution with only 300 students, which has 20 Knowledge Transfer Partnership Schemes, as well as having one of the highest A-level pass rates (99.6%) in the country.

Newbury College is another example leading the way in new product development, with their students employing the latest space age technology to design a centre console for the new Smart car, as well working on high tech materials like carbon fibres at none other than Williams F1.

Unsurprisingly, the report showed a correlation between entrepreneurship and business collaboration, with 44% of colleges that included entrepreneurship in their curricula also engaged with local business through knowledge and technology exchange activities.

The report highlighted that some colleges are leaping beyond teaching to establish practices that could help students in business startup.

For example, Doncaster College has set up a business incubation service that focuses on helping their graduates to start up their businesses once they have completed their studies.

Clearly, the report's findings suggest that colleges want to engage more with business and industry, so why aren't more colleges doing so?.

The simple reason is that most institutions are confused about how to start, who will fund them and where to go.

This situation is made all the more harder by the fact that knowledge and technology exchange initiatives are not considered core college activities.

The Government, in creating such a plethora of agencies and intermediaries to help colleges work with business, have succeeded in confusing both the colleges and the companies they are trying to attract.

The reality is that colleges and companies need to be brought together to communicate and engage in mutually beneficial pursuits, without a middle-man interfering, thus echoing the sentiments of the Chancellor, who stated he wanted to see: "every college and every university with a business champion".

To meet this challenge, the report makes a number of recommendations, including the development of a dedicated college function that focuses on promoting knowledge and technology transfer activities.

By making these changes, FE colleges will be able to play a greater role in driving not only their local labour market but their local business economy as a whole.

Some of the recommendations include the need to: adopt a more strategic approach to promoting and encouraging knowledge and technology exchange activities in FE colleges; provide pump-prime funding to establish mechanisms that will improve the innovation, knowledge and technology exchange capability of colleges with business and industry; implement initiatives that will enable colleges to develop and embed creativity and entrepreneurship in their curricula; assist colleges in obtaining better market intelligence of their local area; create better differentiation across the FE sector that reflects the social and economic needs will enable a clearer resources focus and funding structure to be achieved; and improve the quality of professional development of FE lecturers to enable them to be better equipped to engage in KTT activities with business and industry, thus enabling a richer and more rewarding experience for their students.

Another point that the report draws attention to is the increasing phenomenon of colleges becoming or applying for "university status".

Driven by the growing number of HE programmes being delivered in FE colleges (eg foundation degrees) and recognising the opportunities to access a more flexible and better supported funding regime, many colleges are determined to push for "organisational and status" change.

There will undoubtedly be a number of unintended consequences in terms of educational quality and financial implications that the Government will have to consider in the near future.

The research provides an important platform for two Government reviews.

The first is being conducted by Sir Andrew Foster on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills to examine the role of further education colleges, and the second is being undertaken by Lord Leitch on behalf of HM Treasury to assess the needs of future skills.

Back to top