Recommendation(s): 1

Recommendation 1: We recommend to the Government that it should have a long term strategic aim of responding to increased demand for higher education, much of which we expect to be at sub-degree level; and that to this end, the cap on full-time undergraduate places should be lifted over the next two to three years and the cap on full-time sub-degree places should be lifted immediately.

1.1 The Government recognises the importance of responding to increased demand for higher education in order to meet the needs of both individuals and the economy. In response to the Committee’s recommendation that the cap on full-time sub-degree courses should be lifted immediately, the funding package for higher education in England announced on 23 September 1997 included £4m to enable a start to be made on resuming growth at sub-degree level, mainly in further education colleges. In Scotland, where around 40% of higher education provision is at sub-degree level, the cap on full-time sub-degree courses in further education colleges has already been partially lifted. Student numbers are also being increased in Wales, where the Higher Education Funding Council has been asked to take account of local needs in expanding provision for sub-degree programmes, mainly in FE institutions. In Northern Ireland the scope for an increase will be examined in spring 1998. 1.2 The Government’s aim for later years is to enable more people to progress to higher education, as the Committee recommended, while maintaining and improving the quality of the higher education on offer. The Government remains committed to the principle that anyone who has the capability for higher education should have the opportunity to benefit from it. The role of universities and colleges in lifelong learning will be reinforced by lifting the present cap on numbers. The additional numbers in higher education, which will increase participation by mature students and young people, will make it possible both to meet the expected demand from young people and to widen access to higher education. The Committee expected much of the increased demand for higher education to be at sub-degree level and the Government is considering the implications for the future pattern of provision.

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