AoC FE Provider Strategy and Mandate

This report has been commissioned by AoC to explore the distinctive role of English colleges in the newly developing skills landscape arising post-pandemic and Brexit and against a backdrop of high inflation. It builds on the College of the Future report published in 2020.

A series of key recommendations for a college mandate and a provider management strategy has been developed through a review of international literature about how colleges and other providers are managed in different skills systems, especially in the context of recent system reforms, a quantitative review of providers in three sub-sectors: apprenticeships, adult education and higher technical education and a series of stakeholder interviews.

The analysis underscores the need for an integrated tertiary system, one which is collaborative not competitive, with simplified funding and accountability, and a triple mandate for people, productivity and place.

Read the report Read the AoC press release