Colleges 2020

Article

Experts on colleges in the UK look at how current challenges might affect teaching methods, building design, the way colleges cope with a diverse student body, the way they work with local partners and how they balance meeting the needs of business while also delivering social value.

The college sector in the UK is diverse and dynamic, comprising general and tertiary further education colleges, sixth form colleges and specialist colleges. Over the next decade the sector will face many challenges. Public funding is likely to be cut but colleges will be expected to play a major role in developing the employment skills needed by the workforce to enable the UK to be competitive in global markets, while also continuing to help strengthen local communities.

How colleges respond to these challenges will go a long way to determining the shape of the college system and the nature of individual colleges in 2020.

Related items

  1. “I feel quite unsettled and unsafe”: Young people, belonging, and the broken promise of childhood

    Young people in England feel less secure, supported and connected than a decade ago. Based on nearly 200 conversations, this blog explores why childhood feels more stressful and less joyful.
  2. A photograph from below of the grand Manchester town hall building on a sunny day against a blue sky

    On home ground: The future of devolution

    Andy Burnham has pledged to deliver “the biggest rebalancing of power the country has ever seen”. The key task for the new government is putting this into action.
  3. A photo of police officer and a community support officer walking down a quiet street in Kent

    The legitimacy trap

    Why a more active state needs better statecraft.