Clause 17
Further Education and Training Bill [Lords]
4:15 pm
Bill Rammell (Minister of State (Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education), Department for Education and Skills; Harlow, Labour)
That is an important point, and the criteria and powers are no different in substance from the way in which full degree-awarding powers are dealt with at the moment. By that, I mean that there is an ongoing responsibility on the part of the QAA to monitor progression, and there can be intervention if those progression arrangements fall into disrepair.
It is also important that we should be clear that further and higher education institutions should work together to promote the opportunities that they offer, as they already do. It is in the institutions’ interests to market the programmes and progression routes that they offer to attract and retain students. However, in that regard, I do not agree with the hon. Member for South Holland and The Deepings, that we need to legislate for that. There is no reason why the proposals in clause 17 will undermine existing good practice in terms of joint promotion of foundation degrees and progression routes. However, I am sure that he will have an opportunity to come back at me, and I shall respond to some of the detail of the argument that he is making.
I turn now to amendment No. 7, tabled by the hon. Members for Brent, East and for Leeds, North-West. The amendment is, in many senses, identical to the amendment that I have tabled, except that it also provides that the Privy Council must not make an order granting foundation degree-awarding powers unless it has published criteria by which an institution’s proposals with regard to progression will be considered to be satisfactory. As I have already said, we have already published draft non-statutory guidance and criteria for foundation degree-awarding powers. They have been developed in close conjunction with the QAA, which will assess all applications for foundation degree-awarding powers and advise the Privy Council on whether the criteria have been met. A copy of that document has been circulated to all members of the Committee, and with the Committee’s permission, I will now say a few words about what that document covers.
To determine whether an applicant institution’s statement of its proposals about progression arrangements is satisfactory, the Privy Council could consider such factors as whether the institution’s academic management is sufficiently robust to ensure that progression routes are and will be established, both now and in the future, and whether the institution can be relied on to renew progression arrangements or to seek new ones if the old ones should lapse, with the help of a third party organisation, such as Foundation Degree Forward, if necessary.
In order to be satisfied that the proposals are likely to be carried out, one of the matters that the Privy Council could examine is the actions that have already been taken by an institution with regard to making arrangements for progression from foundation degree courses that are in preparation. Assuring standards and safeguarding the interests of the learner are paramount. An important aspect of that process is preserving the flexibility and potential for innovation that has already made the foundation degree such a highly valued qualification. Institutions, programmes and the needs of learners and employers change over time and it is right that the QAA should be able to take account of such evolution when it assesses applications for foundation degree awarding powers.
We will conduct a full consultation on the guidance and criteria as and when this Bill completes its passage. That process will provide an opportunity for interested parties to influence development of this document, including the guidance on progression. A statutory provision that, in effect, requires the Privy Council to publish its criteria in those circumstances is, I think, superfluous.
Government amendment No. 2 is robust. I believe that it addresses this issue in the most appropriateway. The draft guidance and criteria, including the QAA’s foundation degree qualification benchmark,are transparent published documents, which include detailed statements on how progression routes should be established, maintained and promoted, and how an applicant institution should demonstrate to the QAA that it is doing that.
I hope that, in the light of my remarks, the hon. Members for Brent, East and for Leeds, North-West will feel able to withdraw their amendment.