Written by: James Burke
Thursday, May 31, 2007

Foundation Degrees too risky?

A think tank (Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi)) seems to suggest that Foundation Degrees may be too risky.

Foundation degrees were launched in 2001-2002 with the aim of interesting both employers and students in employer led higher education courses. Foundation degrees are supposed to be designed in partnership with and supported by employers to equip the learner with relevant vocational skills.Foundation degree courses are marketed as vocational diploma level qualifications.

So what are the risks that the Hepi report identifies? 

Questions raised by the Hepi report seems to centre on:

Whether these degrees will be what the students want if they are shaped by employers’ needs?

Whether employer financial support for the degrees would lead to foundation degrees being underfunded by the state? In 2004-2005 only 0.4% of HE courses were employer funded.

Whether there is a market for these degrees when the foundation degrees can be seen as a replacement for Higher National Diplomas (HNDs)?

The Hepi report does not derogate the government’s encouragement of higher education institutions to seek co-funding from employers in exchange for employer influence on the courses but exhorts caution as to unrealistic targets and untested markets.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6679007.stm

www.hepi.ac.uk/pubdetail.asp

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