Addressing Change in Built Environment Higher Education Provision

1. Addressing Change in Built Environment Higher Education Provision Current and emerging higher education situations – issues and challenges Dr. Kath Galloway Higher Education Consultant to CIC

2. Background • About change in England mainly – tuition fees up, public funding re-routed – but impacts expected throughout UK • Grant reduction as tool to prevent over – recruitment by Institutions becomes increasingly less effective • High grades policy, core and margin – and Key Information Set (KIS) introduced • Changes outside higher education may affect propensity to enter it • We’re told ‘don’t compare 2011 with 2012’ but in general, recruitment down • Recruitment in some disciplines may be perking up (if relatively) but others could be heading for a fall in recruitment for a fourth consecutive year.

3. This presentation and its accompanying paper • Desk research and conversation with respondents placed to give indicative views of what’s happened in last 12 months or so • They were from Russell Group, plate glass, post 92 (large and small), higher education in further education • And mainly HoDs, subject leaders, senior staff of further education colleges • Some also spoke for CHOBE, ACED, CHOPS and overview of situation in architecture fed in • Disciplines included; civil engineering, construction management, quantity surveying, property, planning, architecture, architectural technology, facilities management and building services engineering • Rest of presentation; Prospective students, Student Number Controls, Numbers and impacts, Within Institutions, Student perceptions, Employability, Employer engagement and Strategies

4. Prospective students • All respondents said prospective students have higher expectations now • Getting a job worth studying for is more important than ever before • ‘Fees are the really big thing’ • Perceptions of financial arrangements, parental influence may be even stronger and information really does matter now • KIS is much on minds, and could have made its sources (e.g. NSS, DLHE) even more important, also a few surprises • Respondents talked about 24+ loans (HE in FE) and change to vocational qualifications (post 92), but there is change in additional areas that might affect propensity to enter HE

5. Student Number Controls • High grades policy set at AAB+ could have contributed to falls in 2012 recruitment and may have pushed tariffs up • Qualifications ‘equivalent’ to ‘A’ levels are very important for some in the context of high grades policy • ABB+ for 2013 recruitment, taking more places from controlled student number than in 2012 • Core and margin patchy in general • Colleges had to have ‘direct’ funded places to apply for core and margin • Disciplines may have been ‘squeezed’, even where a particular discipline is in a Russell Group university

6. Numbers and impacts • Across all subjects full time undergraduate recruitment 2012, numbers increased at 13% high tariff and ⅓ of lower tariff Institutions, with greater fluctuation in lower tariff; 6% increase in higher education in further education • Some colleges which gained places through core and margin would have ‘replaced’ places that were previously franchised • In construction and built environment disciplines, reality can be worse than the national picture(and better) • ‘Problematic across subjects’, but some thought there may be improvement in recruitment to particular disciplines • Since 2010 recruitment, across all subjects part time undergraduate entrants down 40% , postgraduate down 27%; part time undergraduate ‘directly funded’ in further education colleges fell 27% in 2012 recruitment • ‘Employers are slipping away’, it was assumed students would pay part time fees themselves. ‘They didn’t’ • Increased movement in higher education labour market • Increased competitiveness • Progression within and from apprenticeship could be affected by lack of provision, decline in part time and pressure on particular disciplines

7. Within Institutions • It is recognised fee levels could discourage Institutions from continuing to offer higher cost subjects • ‘Success is measured by full time’ • Most respondents felt increased pressure, more monitoring information wanted from them, and more to deal with • Money seems to matter more now to senior management, though perhaps some saw this in context • It was said it’s wise for those at course/school/ department level to know how senior management views the course/school/department • Professional Institutions can be a source of information on senior management thinking

8. Student perceptions • Almost all respondents felt the student attitude had changed • ‘They’re more demanding’, ‘Very much aware of what they’re getting for their money’ • Also suggested that students may not be taking into account enough of what they are getting for their money • Complaints, including about lectures running slightly short (‘A new one on me!’), but a ‘wider value argument’ as well • It might be that students could increasingly try to use informal means to question • ‘Expect to be challenged’ and it appears to be expected that complaints will increase

9. Employability • What employers say they want from graduates doesn’t seem to have changed much • But employers may have increased expectations of what is provided in support of employability • Some encouragement for substantial work experience from government; tuition fees for sandwich year from 2014-15 capped at 20% of maximum for a full time undergraduate • Potentially greater recognition employability is about more than getting a first graduate job, important as this is

10. Employer engagement • It is suggested that increased fees are accelerating downward trend in employer financial support for part time study • There may be an ‘ironic’ reversal in higher education’s view of ‘closed’ courses • Some Institutions driving hard on employer engagement and reports of employers ‘chasing’ for graduates and placements • Government continues to push on apprenticeship at higher levels • Apprenticeships intended at levels 6 and 7 • Higher Apprenticeships projects

11. Strategies Institutions  • Recruitment targets; Class sizes; Focus on teaching/quality; Standing; Research; Administrative ‘juggling’; Overseas business; Avenues to market; Fees; Cooperation. For potential consideration • Changing positions; Apprenticeship; Consultations, announcements and similar.