Looking into education

Abstract

A Committee of Inquiry into the future of UK higher education was recently set up and is due to report back by the summer of 1997. Under the chairmanship of Sir Ron Dearing, the Committee will be invited to make recommendations on how the shape, structure, size and funding of higher education should develop to meet the country's needs over the next 20 years. When introducing the initiative, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment was quick to emphasize that the number of newly qualified graduates gaining first degrees each year in the UK had doubled since 1979, with over one third being science, mathematics and engineering graduates. The UK now produces more science graduates relative to the young workforce than any other OECD country. The last review of higher education took place over 30 years ago, and the resulting Robbins Report was a landmark for higher education policy, but it is now felt timely to take a fresh and comprehensive look at the challenges facing higher education as the next century approaches. Following the interim report last year of the review of 16 to 19 qualifications, a joint committee has been established to advise both the School Curriculum and Assessment Authority (SCAA) and the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) on the development and oversight of advanced level qualifications. The new joint committee should help to ensure that all qualifications maintain the same high standards, are appropriate for the purpose, easily understood by parents, employers and learners, and are held in high esteem. As Physics Education went to press, news of the full 16-19 review proposals had just been received. Among the main recommendations was a national framework for all qualifications (academic, applied and vocational). A-levels will be continued, alongside a new broad Baccalaureate-type National Diploma, and AS-levels will be discontinued in favour of an examination at 17 covering the first half of the A-level course. There will be a simpler assessment with more rigorous testing of GNVQs ('Applied A-levels'), and a relaunch of Youth Training is planned, along with improved careers guidance. It is hoped to cover these significant changes in UK education and training in more detail in the next issue of the journal, by which time examination of the propsals by a wider audience will have been possible.