A pool of 20,000 student places has been created, for which teaching bodies can bid for, provided that they charge an average of £7,500 or less a year in tuition fees.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has revealed that they will give 9,500 of the places from the price based ‘margin’ to 143 Further Education (FE) colleges. 35 Higher Education (HE) institutions have been given 9,300 places, The Times Higher Education reports.

In response to the price based margin, a number of universities had changed their fee plans so that their average cost would be low enough to apply for these places, with universities originally applying for 16,000 places from the pool. 167 colleges bid for the whole 20,000.

For the first time, 60 FE colleges will now have a direct funding relationship with HEFCE due to the decision.

“Students will be able to choose from a wider number of courses that are high quality, value for money and accessible,” reported David Willetts, the Universities and Science Minister. “These allocations demonstrate that our reforms are already delivering for students.”

Willetts was clear that more FE colleges will now be offering university courses as a result of the bid.

HEFCE expects to finalise the student number limits at the end of February on completion of the appeals process.

Following the announcement of its funding decisions Sir Alan Langlands, HEFCE’s Chief Executive, said: “HEFCE will continue to support a high quality experience for students, world-leading research and progress on knowledge exchange. During a period of transition to new funding arrangements for higher education, we are confident that universities and colleges will continue to provide high standards of teaching and research which are respected around the world.

“We will invest on behalf of students and the public to improve the quality and diversity of provision, including support for smaller, specialist institutions. We will continue to support strategically important and vulnerable subjects, and to contribute to widening participation initiatives, so that all those with the potential to participate in higher education have the opportunity to do so.

To read more on this subject click on the links below:

UK university applications predicted to fall by 10 per cent

Higher Education Bill “to be shelved indefinitely”

Late surge in university applications

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By Olivia Bamber

We are changing the way we send out our promotional materials, such as leaflets, posters, pens and referral cards.

Why?

There are two reasons for this change:

to reduce

We want to reduce the amount of materials we produce, not only to help the environment, but also to ensure the funds that you so kindly donate to us, go to where they are needed most: to improving the lives of staff in FE and HE.

to understand

We would like to understand why you are ordering or downloading these materials and who you want them for. You might just need a poster for your staffroom or your noticeboard to help you fundraise for us, or you may need information for every staff member in a school going through a difficult time. At the moment, we just don’t know. So by answering a few short questions, you can help us make sure you get the right materials, information and
support.

How?

There will soon be two ways to get the materials you need:

• download your leaflets and posters for free

• order leaflets and posters for a small fee to cover postage and packing

When?

We are currently updating our system to allow you to order materials, but in the meantime, you can download posters and leaflets free of charge, simply by clicking here.

A leading educational charity has warned that FE and HE staff need as much support as students as A Level results are released. Recourse, the only independent charity offering practical and emotional support to academic and administrative staff working in FE and HE, fears that public spending cuts, a lack of available spaces and the increase in tuition fees, will leave university and college staff overworked and harassed.

“It is easy forget that this is not just a difficult time for students and their families, but for lecturers, tutors and admissions staff too,”explains Julian Stanley, Chief Executive of Recourse, formerly the College and University Support Network (CUSN). “They need to make important decisions that can affect someone’s entire life and future career in a very short space of time. Often, admissions staff are dealing with disappointed or disgruntled people, and while they are, of course, professional and prepared, there is little thought paid to their own wellbeing and the emotional support that they may need.”

Juliet* used to be responsible for admissions to an undergraduate course for allied health professionals.

“You can do as much preparation as you like to be ready for results day, but you can never be ready for the stress involved,” she explains. “Your workload increases so rapidly and the picture changes so quickly as students accept or reject offers, or perhaps don’t make the grade. You also have to be there to support concerned parents and terrified school-leavers who feel their futures are in the balance and who may be emotional, but who you can’t always help. It can be a very tense time. I can’t even imagine how stressful it will be this year with all the changes and students desperately trying to get a place before the fees go up.”

It is not just universities feeling the pressure. Staff at FE colleges are also pushed.

“There is a lot of pressure from the college in order for statistics to be put together and although I wasn’t expected to work extra hours, I did because the job needs doing. You just have to plough through it and get on with the stress” explains Jenny*, an administrative officer for Diplomas for an FE college in Norfolk.

Jenny explains that the threat is not just internal. “Some parents when upset with the grades their children receive can become very confrontational. You could already see a blame scenario emerging.”

In the end Jenny felt “disillusioned with education” and left her role. Juliet also no longer works in education.

“It is clear that lecturers, tutors and admissions staff will be working harder than ever over the next few weeks, but disappointing more applicants than ever. There will be a lot of unhappy people, including staff, next week and it is important that they all have a place they can go to get the appropriate support and advice,” says Julian Stanley.

Recourse has produced information and advice to help admissions staff in FE and HE. For help, call our Support Line on  0808 802 03 04 or try our clearing factsheet here.

Recourse just spent a busy weekend at the UCU Congress with a UCU and Recourse Quiz Night, a very interesting joint fringe event on “Tackling stress and bullying in post-16 education”, the launch of a stress test and talking to as many delegates as possible to find out how we can make Recourse serve the people who need it most. Here are our thoughts:

Julian Stanley, Chief Executive

Delegates hotly debated the raft of controversial changes that the coalition government have introduced in the further and higher education sectors. Cuts in funding, the introduction of higher fees and changes to way FE and HE courses are taught, managed & delivered were all scrutinised.

A major theme that emerged in the motions tabled for discussion and in a number of fringe meetings was the effect and the pace of change, in particular the rise in reports of bullying and stress amongst the workforce on colleague and university’s and the damage caused to the morale, health and wellbeing and professional status of UCU members in both academic and non-academic roles. This subject was also the topic of a fringe meeting featuring John Murphy UCU NEC, Philip Burgess, Chair of the UCU Anti-stress and bullying working group, John Bamford, UCU Health and Safety Advisor and myself. The event was attended by 35 delegates.

It was also timely that Recourse was in a position to announce the appointment of the charity’s first Development Manager – Alex Smith, whose attendance was warmly received.

Conference gave us the opportunity to explain and promote Recourse and it’s services and to receive feedback on what we do and how best we can continue to develop responsive crisis intervention services and collaborate with UCU and research institutions to develop strategies, interventions, campaigns and policy initiatives that will work to prevent the further growth of negative working practises.

In a powerful speech to the membership, General Secretary – Sally Hunt appealed for political unity to oppose and counter policies that UCU members believe are undermining the education of current and future generations. Recourse is here to help current and future educationalists, case workers, lay officials, support staff and their families when the going gets tough. We believe that learning to support and develop the workforce must be a priority not only for UCU, but for managers, policy makers and all those who often focus on the savings to be made by reducing sickness absence, but fail to recognise the cost in terms of individual and family lives ruined, skills lost to the sector and the negative impact on student outcomes – especially at a time when parents will want to ensure the fee’s their children are paying are being used to ensure standards are high and that those working with students are highly motivated and well-trained. That can’t happen if the culture in our colleges and university’s is driven by a climate of fear.

Alex Smith, Recourse Development Manager:

Having spent a Bank Holiday weekend away at UCU Conference with my colleagues Jason (Press and Communications) and Julian (Chief Executive), I thought I would take the opportunity to reflect on the experience in a blog for this week’s e-newsletter.

As the new Development Manager responsible for building up brand awareness about Recourse in colleges and universities, this weekend was always going to be important for both information gathering and contact collecting. It did not fail to meet this expectation.

Arriving a little bit starry-eyed and bushy-tailed I soon got to work speaking to one delegate after another about their experience with Recourse – whether personal or through what they have heard about it from their friends and colleagues. To my delight feedback was almost unanimously positive, with the majority of delegates saying that they have heard of, used themselves, or referred someone on to Recourse. This was then backed up by written feedback on which the most frequent answer to the question about what each respondent thought about the service was “very useful”. All good so far…

Before anyone can launch into a change agenda they must understand the context of what it is they are changing. Recourse is a great support line and online information service – providing a comforting voice to many academics, support and administrative staff in colleges and universities all across the UK. Therein lies the problem…or not quite problem but more an understanding about what it is our service users think about us.

Clearly communicating what it is that Recourse does is an essential part of increasing the service usage, and expanding the number of information channels happy to promote our message. A great support line that is open 24/7, 365 days a year is actually really great; with a comforting voice which also happens to be a trained professional specialising in offering support to people in post 16 education this offering transforms into something outstandingly great!

Over the weeks and months I hope that we will be refining the way we talk to people about we do…

There is much to chew over and discuss and the ideas generated by both verbal and written feedback will keep us busy. We all know that it will be a difficult time for many people in adult, further and higher education and it is our desire to be ready to respond to their needs when the time comes, whenever that might be.

Jason Harrison, Press and Communications Manager:

The real reason I wanted to be at Congress is to have the chance to talk to tutors, lecturers and support staff about what really matters to them. It is all too easy, sitting in head office, to write about the things you think people in post-16 education are concerned about, but nothing can really beat talking to them face-to-face to find out what is really important.

Generally speaking, the people I spoke to loved their jobs. They may be frustrated with management or exhausted by the many changes facing education, but almost without exception they remained passionate about the teaching and the huge difference they were making. People’s faces genuinely lit up when I asked about their tutor groups or courses. I think that is important to remember, particularly when there is so much negativity around at the moment.

The biggest surprise for me was discovering that Recourse was widely known amongst UCU and its members. We had been under the mistaken impression that not enough had been done to get the name out there, but almost everyone I spoke to had heard of the charity. What is apparently not clear though is just what recourse offers anyone working in FE, HE or adult education.

The weekend was a great start for our new Development Manager Alex and we had so much useful feedback and what we are doing right and what needs more work. There is definitely a renewed sense of excitement amongst us all now as we look to the future of the charity continues to grow.

If nothing else the UCU and Recourse charity night was a talking point and I think most people enjoyed themselves, despite some pretty difficult questions.

The fringe event, where our Chief Executive Julian Stanley spoke about tackling stress and bullying was definitely enlightening. There was some really important discussion on the impact of stress on the workplace and it is clear the conversation will continue.

Most of all I will remember the people I met this weekend. There are some unique characters amongst the UCU membership – you know who you are – and I look forward to meeting and working with you and your colleagues again soon.