College higher education in England 1944–66 and 1997–2010

AsacontributiontothehistoryofhighereducationinEnglishfurthereducationcolleges,twopolicyepisodesaresketchedandcompared.Bothperiodssawattemptstoexpandcoursesofhighereducationoutsidetheuniversities.Inthefirst,aheadofpoliciestoconcentratenon-universityhighereducationinthestrongestinstitutions,effortsweremadeafter1944torecognizeahierarchyofcolleges,withseparatetiersassociatedwithdifferentvolumesandtypesofadvancedfurthereducation.Inthesecond,soonafterunificationofthehighereducationsectoratthebeginningofthe1990s,allcollegesinthefurthereducationsectorwereencouragedtoofferhigher-levelprogrammesandqualifications,withareluctanceorrefusalonthepartofcentralgovernmenttoplan,coordinate,orconfigurethisprovision.Thetwoepisodeshighlightverydifferentassumptionsaboutwhattypesofinstitutionsshouldbeinvolvedinwhatkindsofhighereducation.Theyarearemindertooofhowshortisthepolicymemoryonhighereducationwithinmodern-daygovernmentsandtheiragencies.


Introduction
For more than sixty years, further education institutions have featured prominently in the growthofEnglishhighereducation,inthebroadeningofitssocialbase,andasthewellspring foradditionaluniversities.Theimportanceofsuchcontributionshasbeensuitablyhighlighted, especiallytheselectionandpromotiontouniversitystatusofthecollegesoftechnologyand, later,thepolytechnicsandtheinstitutesofhighereducation.Outsidetheseseniorinstitutions, thehighereducationprovidedbyasmanyas300otherfurthereducationestablishmentshas been less documented and discussed.They remain a relatively hidden part of the history of highereducationinEngland.
Thefirstoftheseperiods,fromthesecondhalfofthe1940sthroughtothemiddleofthe 1960s,involvedeffortsbycentralandlocalgovernment,assistedbyregionalbodies,torecognize ahierarchyoffurthereducationestablishments.Eachcategoryortierwasbroadlydefinedby the volume and type of advanced work and the catchment area for its students.The second and more recent episode involved a reversal by government of decisions made to designate separate sectors for higher education and then confine this level of provision to one sector. Thesepositionschangedafter1997.Sincethen,allgovernmentshavesoughttoexpandhigher educationinthefurthereducationsector.
In the intervening years, from the late 1960s through to the early 1990s, a binary policy was pursued with the aim of concentrating non-university higher education, especially fulltime courses, in a limited number of strong centres, mainly the polytechnics.The object was todevelopthese institutionsaslargeandcomprehensiveinstitutions, sohelping tomeetthe mounting demand for higher education within the further education system. Centred on the polytechnics,adistinctivesectoroflocalauthorityhighereducationwouldtherebycomplement theuniversities.However,asaresultoftherationalizationandreorganizationofthecollegesof educationinthe1970sthereemergedanewsetofcollegesofhighereducationthatwouldalso figureinmovestoconcentrateprovisioninthenon-universitysector.

Diversity into hierarchy 1944-66
Outofthe'patchwork-quilt'offurthereducationestablishmentsthatdevelopedinthedecade aftertheendoftheSecondWorldWartherehadgraduallyemergeda'distinctpattern',one that had become'progressively more logical' (Cantor and Roberts, 1972: 1).This centred on threemaintypes:regionalcolleges;areacolleges;andlocalcolleges.In1956,afourthcategory -colleges of advanced technology -was added in order to recognize establishments with a national role in further education.The basis for this four-fold classification was the scale and level of advanced further education taught by individual colleges and, crucially, the mode of study.Equippedwiththisframework,andworkingthroughregionaladvisorycouncilsandlocal authorities,theeducationministrywasinapositiontoguide,steer,andcoordinatetherapid expansionofstudentnumbersinfurthereducationplannedfortheyearsahead.
By contrast, a large majority of those undertaking advanced further education courses studied part-time, during the day or in the evening.While a small number were on courses leading to internal or external university degrees, the rest were enrolled for qualifications at levels below or approximating to the bachelor degree. Students on advanced courses would havebeenasmallfractionofthe768,000studentstaughtacrosssome680majorestablishments aroundthistime.Ofthese,only45,000werefull-timestudents.Outsidethemajorestablishments were827eveninginstituteswhereanother827,000studentswereengagedinshortpart-time courses.Althoughmainlyconcernedwith'recreational'courses,incertainareastheinstitutes alsoprovided'fairlyadvancedvocationalcourses' (CantorandRoberts,1972:4).

A four-tier hierarchy of major establishments of further education
ElevenyearsafterpublicationofthePercyreporttherefollowedalandmarkWhitePaperon technical education that sought formal differentiation within the further education system in ordertoachievetherapidexpansionoutlinedinafive-yeardevelopmentplanforthetechnical colleges (Ministry of Education, 1956b).The objectives over this period were to increase by aboutone-halftheoutputofstudentsfromadvancedcoursesand,aspartofaproportionate increaseatthelowerlevels,todoublethenumbersreleasedbyemployersforpart-timecourses during the day. Similar to the proposal in the 1945 report, theWhite Paper announced the selectionof22collegesinEnglandand2inWalestotakethebulkoffuturegrowthinfull-time advancedfurthereducation.

Area colleges
In addition to the types of course provided at local colleges, varying amounts of advanced work were offered, mainly part-time, by area colleges. For these establishments, the aim was toenhanceandexpandtheirprovisionoftheHNCandsimilarpart-timecourses.About175 technicalcollegesranHNCcourses,yetthenumbersgainingthisqualificationdidnotexceed 7,000annually.Sincethisnumberincludedcollegespositionedonthenextrungsoftheladder (theregionalcollegesandcollegesofadvancedtechnology),thevolumeofstudentstakingsuch coursesatsomeofthecollegeswas'verymodest'.
A number of the existing area colleges offered a few advanced full-time or sandwich courses.Thesearrangementswouldnotbedisturbed'solongasthecoursesremainefficient andeconomical' (MinistryofEducation,1956a:2).However,thebulkofthecoursesofthese kinds would be provided in future at regional colleges and colleges of advanced technology. Only exceptionally would new full-time advanced programmes be approved at area colleges. Inconsideringapplicationsofthiskind,particularattentionwouldbepaidtothequalityofthe staff,theteachingrecordofthecollege,andtheprospectofcontinuedannualrecruitmentofa minimumof15suitablestudents.

Colleges of advanced technology
At the apex of the system would be the colleges of advanced technology, whose conditions of recognition included a broad range and substantial volume of technological and allied work exclusively at the advanced levels (including research and postgraduate education); an independentgoverningbody;astaffwithappropriatequalificationsandexperience;andteaching conditionsthatapproximatedtothoseforworkofequivalentstandardattheuniversities.All theirexpenditureonadvancedtechnologicalcourseswouldqualifyfora75percentgrantand thegoverningbodywouldhavethefreedomtospendfromwithintheannualbudgetapproved bytheauthoritiesmaintainingoraidingtheseestablishments.
Byrecommendingthatthetencollegesofadvancedtechnologyshouldbecome 'technological universities', the report appeared to remove one of the institutional tiers from the further education system, or at least leave it vacant for possible future use. Indeed, in arguing for a university-led pattern of future growth in full-time higher education, the report opened the pathforsomeexistingregionalcollegestoattainuniversitystatus.Therateatwhichthisshould happenwouldbejudgedprimarilyontherecordofachievementofindividualinstitutions.From theregionalcollegesandtheteachertrainingestablishmentsinEnglandandfromthecentral institutionsinScotland,itwas'areasonablehope'thatsometencollegeswouldhavereached universitystatusbythebeginningofthe1980s.
Created mostly by mergers among the regional and other colleges'which had already established a reputation as centres of higher education', the aim was to'settle the list' of polytechnicsforabouttenyearsand'notaddtoit'withinthisperiod (DepartmentofEducation and Science, 1966: 6). In this way, the remaining colleges and their local authorities would 'knowwheretheystand'andwouldbeabletoconcentrateontheirresponsibilitiesfor'other' categoriesofstudents: Thus the system will come to resemble a fork rather than a ladder.A dual system will be perpetuateddeliberately. (Peters,1967:127) Withanendtotheladderprinciple,afixingofthenumberofpolytechnics,andabinarypolicy supportedbyallgovernmentsoverthenext25years,thetiersystemasabasisforplanningfell intodisuse.
While the case for sequestering the polytechnics from further education and later for promotingthemtouniversitystatuswasmadeintheWhitePapersprecedingthe1988and1992 Acts (DepartmentofEducationandScience,1987;1991b),nosuchrationaleoraccompanying principles and arguments guided the re-formation of the further education sector at these points.Thatthechangedcompositionandgovernanceofthesectorin1992failedtoproduce astatementofsharedmissionandpurpose(DepartmentofEducationandScience,1991a)lent support to the suspicion that'it had been to some extent thrown together' (Smithers and Robinson,2000:1).
Theroledefinedforlocalcollegesinthe1950sand1960s,asproviderssolelyorprimarily concerned with non-advanced further education, was similar to that assumed for all further education colleges after 1988 and 1992. Colleges in membership of the post-1992 further educationsectorwereclassifiedintoinstitutionaltypesbuttheseweredescriptive,notfunctional or developmental, categories. Nor did these types take account of the higher education and higher-levelqualificationsthatmightcontinuetobeprovidedbyfurthereducationinstitutions.

The post-binary residuum
Notwithstanding the formation of a three-sector structure in 1988 and a two-sector system in 1992, there was an amount of higher education that stayed with colleges in the further educationsector.Duringthepassageofthesereforms,therewaslessinterestamongthecentral authoritiesinthecharacterandhealthofthisresidualsegment.Inoneofthefewdocumentsto breakthissilence,asurveyreportbyHerMajesty'sInspectoratedescribedthishighereducation as'substantial and diverse'. Included in this provision were courses meeting a specific (often local)need,coursesinunusualsubjects,andcoursesforwhichtherewashighdemand:avariety andgeographicalspreadthatplayedasignificantpartin'wideningopportunitiesforstudents' (DepartmentofEducationandScience,1989).
These colleges and courses accounted for around 120,000 higher education students in 1989,or15percentofthetotalof808,000highereducationstudentsinEngland.By1993,atthe heightofthedramaticgrowththatbeganinthelate1980s,thisnumberhadincreasedto146,000. Duetothefasterrateofexpansionamongthepolytechnicsandtheuniversities,theproportion of college higher education had reduced to 12 per cent by this date. However, this was to underestimate the number of higher education students actually taught in further education colleges.Asaresultofthesubcontracting(franchising)ofteachingtofurthereducationcolleges bythefastest-expandingpolytechnics,anestimatedadditional30,000highereducationstudents were taught by the colleges, giving a total of 176,000 out of nearly 1.2 million students and returningtheproportionto15percent (Parry,2003).
Mostofthisactivitywasdispersedamongthegeneralfurthereducationcolleges,usually as small pockets of provision and accounting for just 5 per cent of the total of students in the college sector.Around fifty to sixty colleges, including some of the specialist institutions, hadsizeableamountsofhighereducation.Tohighlighttheirdistinctivemission,theseself-styled 'mixed-economycolleges'cametogethertolobbyonbehalfoftheirinterests.Fromthebeginning, thisgroupofcollegeswasnottranslatedintoofficialcategories,althoughtheyweretoachieve someinfluenceasaninterestorpressuregroup.
That priority in growth should be given to sub-bachelor higher education in further educationcollegeswasvariouslyjustifiedintermsofthedemandsofalifelonglearningsociety; the importance of local providers and staged qualifications for'non-traditional' students; and, echoingthereportsontechnicalandtechnologicaleducationinthe1950sand1960s,theweak performance of the country in education and training at the intermediate levels.A missing argument,atleastinthepagesofthereport,wasthelowercostsofshort-cycleandcollege-based courses.Moreover,inrecommendingaflat-ratetuitionfeeforfull-timedomesticstudents,the committeerejectedfundingoptionsthatmightfavoursub-bacheloroverbachelorprogrammes orcollegeoveruniversityproviders.
In a second radical move, in 2000 the government had piloted a new short-cycle workfocused qualification: the two-year foundation degree.Where the Diploma inTechnology in the1950swasanationalawardofhonoursdegreestandardunabletobecalledadegree,the foundation degree was a sub-bachelor qualification that now, for the first time, carried the title of degree. From 2004, institutions were offered additional funded places for foundation degreesinpreferencetobachelordegreessothatfuturegrowthwouldcomepredominantly throughthisnewroute.Inthisway,the'skillsgap'wouldbetackledwhereitwasmostacute and,ifsuccessful,ameansfoundto'breakthetraditionalpatternofdemand'forundergraduate education (DepartmentforEducationandSkills,2003:62).
Arguably,theDearingproposalspresupposedpoliciesandapproachesspecific,orotherwise tailored, to further education sector institutions.This was the strategy adopted in the years immediately following the inquiry report. However, even if demand for short-cycle higher education had been strong and the colleges had been able to take advantage of the directly fundednumbersmadeavailabletothem,thevolumeofstudentstheyreceivedwaslikelytohave been smaller than the numbers won and more easily absorbed by the large multifaculty and multipurposeuniversities.
Thisshift,togetherwithfundingapproachesdesignedtofostergreatercompetitionbetween institutions, encouragedseveral colleges to move into higher education at the bachelor level, frequently by way of a'top-up' year attached to their existing short-cycle programmes. Such upward drift was what the tiered systemin the first policy episodewasdesignedtomanage andcontrol,andwhichtheDearinginquiryhadsoughttoprevent.Inthemanagedmarketsnow operating for funded numbers and for validating services there were opportunities for some collegestoextendtheverticalrangeoftheirhighereducationqualifications.
From1994,jointfundingwasmadeavailabletocollegesanduniversitiestocreate'lifelong learning networks'. These brought colleges and universities into relationship to improve progressionopportunitiesforstudentswithvocationalqualificationsacrossacity,area,region, or subject. On each of these fronts, collaboration between colleges and universities was the touchstone,arelationshiptobebrokerednot'fromabove'butforgedbymutualinterestand incentivefunding.
Therearecommonalitiesaswell,notablytheextenttowhichthedivisionsorboundaries of further education were shaped more by the demands of higher education and rather less byargumentsfortheprimacy,integrity,andcoherenceofeducationattheotherlevels.Inthe firstpolicyepisode,thedriverforthefourtiersoffurthereducationwasthesizeandshareof advanced further education, especially the patterns and modes of study.Alternative schemes forthedifferentiationofcollegeswereunlikely to have comefrom elsewhere, giventhat the educationandtrainingoftherestoftheworkforcedependedonthewillingnessofindividual employers to release their employees and apprentices, with the state reluctant to disturb a traditionofvoluntarisminrelationsbetweenindustryandgovernment.Inthesecondepisode, whenministerswereactivelyinvolvedinreformingtertiarystructures,theredefinitionofthe further education sector was keyed to the removal of higher education, and then seriously troubled by the decision to reverse this policy but leave further and higher education under differentanddivergingregimesforeachsector.