Have too many people been left behind, post-secondary?

Recent decades have seen significant policy success on increasing the numbers of young people attending and successfully completing higher education.

According to Education at a Glance 2020, across OECD countries 45% of 25- to 34-year-olds have participated in tertiary education compared with only 28.4% of 55- to 64-year-olds – although this varies across countries. This is likely to increase to 49% over the next few years.

Despite costs associated with participation, people with a tertiary qualification do better in the labour market and in life-chances over the longer term.

But what about the other 50% – have we given as much attention to (young) people who do not attend higher education?

Hyper-globalisation, demographic change, the climate crisis and the technological revolution – plus changes accruing from the COVID-19 pandemic – are all dramatically reshaping the world of work and how and where we live.

According to Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, higher-level skills will constitute 41% of the skills mix required by 2030 and almost 45% of jobs will require medium-level skills.

Yet, on average across OECD countries almost 39% of 25- to 29-year-olds are classified as NEETs – neither employed nor in education or training.

Despite decades of initiatives, research continues to show socio-economic characteristics, rather than merit, track students through the education system and into the labour market and in the process reinforce gender, ethnic, racial and regional disparities.

Social and political discord is growing across many countries, evidenced by high levels of polarisation along with growing distrust in public and civic institutions. Even responses to COVID-19 have become a partisan issue.

Vocational education and training

These developments are forcing many governments, colleges and universities to relook at their education systems. There is a realisation that too much attention has been focused on high-status resource-intensive research universities. The top 100 universities listed by the Academic Ranking of World Universities (2019) represent only 1.4% of total students worldwide.

Attention is shifting to the colleges and universities – often in smaller cities and towns – which the overwhelming majority of our students attend. One thing is clear, we cannot allow a survival-of-the-fittest approach to dominate policy.

Vocationally oriented education and training (VET) is usually associated with upper secondary level education – but it is much more than that. Due to the fact that people will be living and working longer, VET has a crucial role to play in retraining and repurposing qualifications at post-secondary level.

High-performing vocational systems normally combine in-classroom learning with experiential learning at the workplace and-or through practice. They provide good paying careers as well as an entry into higher levels of education for those who wish to pursue further study.

Indeed, the pandemic has forced society to realise that the people we have depended upon to keep manufacturing, hospitals, healthcare centres and cities going are often those with vocational training. But these are also the institutions with the least funding and resources compared with universities.

Commission on the College of the Future

Responding to these seismic changes, the Independent Commission on the College of the Future was established in 2019 to examine the role of VET colleges across the four nations of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland). It hosted over 150 events and received over 60 submissions from organisations and individuals.

Its objective was to consider: What do we want and need from colleges in 10 years’ time? What changes are needed in order to achieve this?

The UK-wide final report from the Independent Commission on the College of the Future, published in late October, made 11 recommendations. Nation-specific proposals will follow.

Colleges are primarily public institutions, supported and limited by governments. That’s why many proposals are directed at the governments across the UK – urging action to support, strengthen and expand the role and capacity of colleges.

Other proposals are directed at the colleges – urging them to take a more active role in their communities and in partnership with universities and other stakeholders.

The recommendations are:

1. Articulate a 10-year vision for education and skills training to support economic growth, industrial change and lifelong learning.

2. Introduce a responsibility on colleges to develop strategies to identify and meet local and regional needs and priorities across the tertiary system.

3. Recognise colleges as having a key role as anchor institutions in the community, supporting wider community action and services.

4. Provide a statutory right for people to be able to upskill and retrain throughout their lives through access to affordable and relevant lifelong learning opportunities.

5. Provide a skills guarantee for people affected by COVID-19 and changes to the economy and labour market.

6. Colleges should form a closer strategic partnership with employers, nationally and locally or regionally.

7. Colleges should be given an expanded role in providing business support and creating sector or skills-focused employer hubs appropriate to local labour market priorities.

8. Colleges should adopt a long-term strategic role and be funded accordingly and appropriately.

9. New governance arrangements to strengthen strategic coordination and address valueless competition between colleges and other education providers should be established.

10. A new social partnership between colleges, unions, employers and governments should be established within each of the four nations of the UK.

11. Colleges should be led by systems leaders who reflect the community within which they are based and the students they serve.

Key messages

This is a timely report. Other countries (such as Ireland) are pursuing a similar direction of travel. A key message is centred around creating a more diverse and seamless post-secondary education system, embracing both vocational and higher education, in recognition that people’s life circumstances change.

This puts an onus on governments, colleges and universities, employers and civil society to work collaboratively. It also recognises that liberal democratic societies require people who are active, informed citizens.

Ellen Hazelkorn is joint managing partner, BH Associates, and joint editor, Policy Reviews in Higher Education. She is a commissioner of the Independent Commission on the College of the Future.