John Denham - Widening Adult Participation in HE
Southampton University - 22 May 2008

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Introduction

I am pleased to be here to say a few words about the need to give people in this country far more opportunities to get degrees. It's a subject I have pursued since I beginning my job in July - I first spoke about it in my speech to the Universities UK conference in September. Last month, I spoke to the funding council on HE participation among younger people. I said then that increasing the number of less traditional students able to study in higher education was also important. So this afternoon I would like to concentrate on HE participation for adults.

I welcome the research launched today - these findings offer valuable insights into older learners' perceptions of and attitudes towards higher education that will directly inform policy making.

And the timing of this conference is opportune - it falls during the seventeenth annual Adult Learners Week - my first as Secretary of State. One of the themes of this year's Adult Learners' Week is the 'changing workplace'. I want to see a workplace where employers and their staff actively pursue training because they recognise that skills support successful people, successful businesses and a successful economy.

Opportunities are now there for people who in previous generations would never have dreamed of going to university. Many of them missed out the first time round. We are now giving them a second chance. We must send out a clear message that it is not too late.

People should grasp the opportunity to take up one of the wide range of qualifications that higher education has to offer. This can help them improve their skills, get a better job and build a better life for themselves and their families. Because - as your research shows - there are clear benefits to be gained; current estimates suggest that a university degree is worth well over £100,000 net of tax, more than stopping at A-Levels.

But the skills agenda isn't just to enable people to fulfil their potential and reach their aspirations. It is an economic imperative. One indicator of a world-class higher education system is its ability to unlock our talent to the fullest extent. This is essential for the country as a whole - to succeed in the increasingly competitive global economy we must harness all the talents of all our people.

Other countries are more effective at overcoming barriers to reaching students with untapped potential. Here, we are wasting too much talent.

In my HEFCE speech, I restated the Government's commitment to enable more young people to go to university - progressing towards 50% of those aged 18 to 30. But as the number of 18 year olds declines, young graduates alone cannot meet the needs of the economy; greater participation in HE for all age groups is the only way of keeping us internationally competitive.

Government's vision on developing our skills and abilities is that by 2020 at least 40% of the working-age population should hold qualifications at HE level or above, compared to 31% now.

Yet three-quarters of the people who will make up our workforce in 2020 have already left compulsory education. Their skills needs must be our priority.

Widening participation: a core mission of DIUS

One of the main conclusions drawn from your research is that: 'No single agency has a remit for participation in HE across the life course as its core mission'. While that may have been true this time last year, with the creation of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), we are in a stronger position. Our challenge is:

• to make the most of the skills and abilities of every single citizen;
• to sustain first-class research and scholarship;
• and to create the environment in which those skills and that research are translated into innovative products, services and businesses.

Widening participation is central to achieving each of these ambitions. Hence my focus today on older learners.

What do we know about adults' attitudes to HE?

The research led by Southampton adds to the existing knowledge about adult participation in HE.

DIUS' own Potential Higher Education Entrants Study, published in March 2008, found that adults know what HE has to offer but are less sure how to access it. Four-fifths of working adults surveyed agreed that 'People like me go to university' and 'University is not just for young people'.

And this research also found that four million people are considering, or willing to consider, participating in higher education. These are people that are likely to be already in work; they may have family commitments and perhaps want a different model of learning to the traditional 3 year undergraduate degree. There may be others who now consider, quite wrongly, that their time has passed.

I believe that every person who has the ability to go to university should also have the opportunity to do so.

And I believe that if we are to create the high-level skills base by 2020 that the UK needs, then we must aim to give those four million people who want to go to university the chance to get one of the increasingly wide range of qualifications that higher education has to offer.

With six million adults of working age currently with only A levels or equivalent qualifications, there exists a large untapped pool of talent in the workforce that could benefit from higher education. We must ensure that higher education is a practical option for them, too, and encourage them to aspire to it.

In Southampton, for example, under a third of the population - 37,000 people - have high level skills. While we recognise that each local authority faces different circumstances, if we applied the 40% national target to Southampton, we would need at least 16,500 more people to get a higher education qualification. That's almost half as many again. This gives an indication of the challenge facing each area in this country.

So while much of our work is on widening participation among young people and progressing towards our 50% target, we should not lose focus on those who are already in employment. Much of what my department does to widen access to and increase demand for higher education applies equally to mature students.

In fact, we are providing help for precisely this group of people.

Giving all employees a right to a dialogue with their employer about their skills development will encourage more businesses to invest in their staff as a driver of future business performance. And it will help encourage and support adults to rise as far as their talent will take them. For many that could include participation in higher education. We are creating 60,000 new university places over the next three years, so there will be more students than ever before.

We have launched our new university challenge to enable communities to come together to bid for 20 new university campuses or centres, so that location should not be a barrier to participation.

Our strategy for high-level skills will bring employers and universities together to develop learning opportunities to help people in their careers.

Overall, as your research confirms, we need to do more to improve adult progression to HE and I believe that Lifelong Learning Networks have strong role to play here. They provide links between FE and HE in the same way as we are trying to link universities and schools.

In March the Lifelong Learning Network achieved national coverage. Already they involve over 90 per cent of all universities in England and over 300 colleges. I am pleased to see that, in Hampshire, our Lifelong Learning Network 'Progress to Succeed' is going from strength to strength - led by Southampton Solent University and involving several other local universities and colleges.

I have now asked HEFCE develop a stronger, more focused remit for the Lifelong Learning Networks. I also want LLNs to develop clear progression routes for people on diplomas and for those following LSC-funded vocational programmes and workplace learning into HE.

Adults need clear progression routes from L2 to L3 and L4

At higher levels, stronger partnerships between institutions and employers are key to developing additional and more appropriate HE provision at both Foundation Degree and undergraduate level. Collaboration between HE and business is improving at an ever-increasing pace.

I am not only talking about the commercial transactions between business and universities, but skills provision too.

Employers must be brought inside the tent if HE provision for adults in employment is going to reach the right people in the right places with the right knowledge and skills.

Closer partnerships of this kind are delivering real results in foundation degrees. Co-designed by employers, with built in progression routes, they have proved their value both as free-standing qualifications and as stepping-stones towards full degrees. At present we are well on course to meet our target of 100,000 foundation degree enrolments by 2010 - by December last year almost 73,000 students were studying foundation degrees.

Some employers have complained about the difficulty of recruiting staff with the skills they need. Foundation degrees offer one way to help them develop those same skills within their existing workforce.

Adults need high-level skills

In the high-level skills strategy we set out our plans to produce more, and more employable, graduates. To raise the skills and capacity for innovation and enterprise among those already in the workforce.

HEFCE is already providing financial support for employer co-funding - over £100 million over the next 3 years. This will allow funding for at least 35,000 students over the same time frame.

We have also asked HEFCE to develop a new funding model that is co-financed with employers and achieves sustained growth in employer-based student places. This will incentivise HE providers to respond quickly to employer demand and to offer accessible provision tailored to individual businesses.

The approach for the next three years seeks to encourage HE providers to innovate. So HEFCE will test and invest in a range of approaches.

Every HE institution should be considering how it can respond to this challenge - in ways that match its mission. I would like more recognition for those institutions that excel in workforce development. And we expect employers, and their representative bodies, to play their part - including recognising and articulating their needs for a more highly-qualified workforce and co-funding provision where necessary.

Adults need closer links between HE and their workplace

One thing that came out in your findings which I hear time and again on visits concerns the appetite among the working population for high-quality work-related and employer-supported provision that offers tangible returns.

At present the system is complex and confusing and that is why we are taking steps to simplify and rationalise it. This means developing better credit transfer alongside more flexible and work-related provision.

In the new vocational qualification system, learners and employers should feel clearer about what is available and suitable to their needs. And individuals will be able to gain credit from each unit of learning they complete and have their achievements understood by others.

Adults need high-quality employment and skills IAG

A strong implication of your research is that we must get better at selling the benefits of participation. I agree. Messages for adults are different to those for younger people. They face issues such as finding time, lifestyle upheaval and problems sourcing of advice and information. The PHEES study confirms this.

All prospective HE entrants need clear and accessible information about the lifetime benefits of HE, the financial support available, the choice of university and courses, and simply about what the experience of HE is actually like.

Information and guidance is particularly important as adults don't have the luxury of well-informed teachers to offer advice. On this point, I acknowledge and welcome how much UCAS has done in recent years to make this kind of information available on its website as an integral part of the applications process - including providing links to National Student Survey findings.

There are several sources of high-quality information on education and training options around such as Directgov, Unionlearn and Learndirect - and they have an important part to play. But none of these are designed to offer the specialised and personalised advice that an adult often needs before taking the big step of going into higher education.

As I mentioned earlier, DIUS is developing an Advancement and Careers service, working with our partners. This will not only offer information on skills and learning, but also on any area of their life that might be a barrier to learning, such as childcare, finance, or housing.

Among other things, I want that service to be able to offer adults the support and information they need to view HE as a serious option for them and to choose the right course and mode of study.

Adults need part-time study options

But it's not just about providing support for adults to get the most out of higher education as it stands - I want the system to be genuinely shaped by the changing profile of the people who use it.

The number of 18-year-olds in England will fall by 16 per cent between 2009 and 2020.

That means we will need more part-time options. A breakdown of the student population shows that 44% of full-time students are mature, but looking at the part-time cohort, this rises to 93%. Adults, often studying part-time and co-funded by their employers, will make up a growing proportion of the home student population over the next decade.

As you say in the research brief, 'potentially recruitable' adults are living comfortable lives. There needs to be a strong message from universities, employers and peers that getting involved in higher education won't turn those lives upside-down. After all, irrespective of how good our student support arrangements are, many adult learners have mortgages to pay and children to bring up.

Secondly, for many mature students, living on campus is neither desirable nor viable. So how do we ensure that they can feel part of an academic community?

The traditional university course just isn't a practical option for many of these people and their employers. So institutions will need to work with businesses and their communities to find innovative ways to reach out to more mature learners. As your research briefing says, that means providing an undergraduate curriculum that is responsive to the needs of mature learners including flexible delivery, appropriate credit accumulation, accreditation of prior learning arrangements and content which is valued by learner and employer alike.

I have asked Professor Christine King, Vice Chancellor of Staffordshire University, to look at part-time study, as part of our work to develop a 10-15 year framework to maintain our world-class HE system.

In particular, Professor King will consider how higher education institutions can offer course structures that respond to the needs of mature students, including through the use of credit accumulation. I look forward to hearing her views.

Adults need more local HE provision

The Government acknowledges and your research also stresses that there is a great need for flexible and relevant HE provision. We hope that the new 'University Challenge' which I recently announced, will help to bring HE to new areas where there is unmet demand.

Twenty towns will have the opportunity to bid for new university campuses - creating room for up to 10,000 students. That's important for participation, clearly, but also good for local regeneration and local pride. This will build on the successes of the last few years which have seen new higher education provision transforming local economies and the lives of local people. We must learn from these success stories and act on the growing evidence that locally based projects play a key role in helping regions grow economically and people realise their potential.

Conclusion

Ultimately, my message today is this:

• We want to give everyone who has the talent the chance to go university, whether they're about to leave school or already in work.
• And students should have the opportunity to attend a local university offering flexible courses to suit their needs.

Our challenge is to reach out to people in the workforce to make sure they are aware of how higher education can help them, they know what options are available to them, and that they are able to take them.

I believe we can meet those challenges. Thank you.