UK: Foundation degrees growing in popularity

11 May 2008

The growth in the number of students taking foundation degrees is on track to meet the government's target of 100,000 by 2010, a report published last week suggests. But it warns that employers may not be prepared to pay for the cost of teaching the courses, reports the Education Guardian.

According to the Higher Education Funding Council for England study, 72,000 students enrolled on foundation degree programmes in 2007-08, up from 4,300 when they were first introduced in 2001-02. Some 93 universities and 260 further education colleges provided foundation degrees in 2005-06 and current growth projections suggest the target will be hit.

The qualifications are a key part of the government's strategy to increase the population's skills levels and ministers have said they want to see more courses developed with and partly paid for by employers.
Full report on the Sunday Times site

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