Let’s hope the LLE doesn’t cause problems.
The annual release of HESA’s Higher Education – Business and Community Engagement (HE-BCI) brings a lot of interest to a lot of people.
There is something to be said for looking at the data overall to get a better understanding of the way universities, at a time of existential crisis, are still providing benefits to the communities and industries around them. But the Knowledge Exchange Framework does that very well, and adds in a number of other sources of information.
There’s likewise a lot of excitement about the spin out register, which has expanded by 141 newly identified companies in the past year – impressive, but below the peak of 202 added in 2022.
I like to look at the evidence of continuing professional development (CPD) and continuing education (CE) provision. This represents a very practical, and commercially minded, intervention into upskilling the workforce and providing an opportunity for members of the public to pursue their interests and ambitions in a constrained and supported environment – often leading to academic credit and/or access to higher level study.
You’ll be aware that the government is developing an entirely new framework that will allow learners to borrow money to cover tuition fees for lifelong learning of certain sorts – and with this in mind I find it genuinely baffling how little attention how little attention the vast amount of other provision of this type from the sector (4.5m learner days, £824m) actually gets.
Here’s a quick visualisation of the overall numbers:
For me, this highlights an ongoing growth in the value of provision aimed at individuals and non-commercial organisations – other than a dip during the pandemic restrictions, commercial and SME focused provision has stayed at a similar level. The sheer volume of activity is impressive.
Here’s a look by provider:
The London Business school is clearly at the top end of this market, generating more than £40m of income from CPD and CE. Cardiff and the University of London generate income from non-commercial activity, while Anglia Ruskin leads the way in the number of days of learning provided.
A well-known name is clearly an advantage, though all kinds of providers offer short courses and lifelong learning in local and regional markets. With the advent of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement, the state of this flourishing market needs monitoring: the HESA HE-BCI data is there for that. An unattractive student finance model may not be what lifelong learning needs.