THE BIG PICTURE: Area Reviews, Data and the Future of FE Andy Davison

What are Area Reviews? According to Reviewing Post-16 Education and Training Institutions, they are two-fold: 1.Clear, high quality professional and technical routes to employment, alongside robust academic routes, which allow individuals to progress to high level skills valued by employers 2.Better responsiveness to local employer needs and economic priorities, for instance through local commissioning of adult provision

What REALLY are Area Reviews? FE Commissioner, Dr David Collins, in his letter to “all Chairs, Principles/CEOs of Corporations and FE Institutions” last year: “As budgets tighten across the FE sector, increasing numbers of colleges are having to take some difficult decisions as to what they can afford to provide and how best they can provide it. … More and more colleges … are beginning to explore ways of working more closely together, rationalising their offers and ensuring greater value for money” In other words, the Government wanted to consolidate the sector and the Area Reviews are a method for them to do so

What Does That Mean? Area Reviews have been designed to streamline the sector, removing financially unsustainable colleges Inevitably, there will be mergers and in due course, there will be far fewer but generally bigger institutions The expectations on those colleges that remain will be huge, including remaining financially viable, and implementing new and better ways to increase productivity and employability Oh but funding isn’t being increased!

What do Colleges Need to Think About? Mergers This is already happening and will continue to happen throughout the year, so need to start thinking this through, whether a “stronger” or a “weaker” college Why are we merging and what makes for a successful merger? Which curriculum areas do we keep, which areas do we grow, which areas do we cut?

What do Colleges Need to Think About? Partnerships Are we working closely enough with other stakeholders to improve our local economy? How can we work more closely and effectively with our Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). Can we do more to work better with local business, especially through apprenticeships?

What do Colleges Need to Think About? Apprenticeships What is our current approach to growing apprenticeships? At a FERDI panel last November, Principals were open an honest, suggesting that their approach is currently disjointed and not very strategic How can we develop a more strategic approach to engaging with employers to meet apprenticeship targets?

What do Colleges Need to Think About? Business Model How well does our current business model serve the purpose of becoming an excellent college for local businesses and learners? Do we need to change it? What new business models and practices can we adopt that will enable the College to grow and better serve the local economy?

What do Colleges Need to Think About? New Opportunities Peter Lauener, chief executive of the SFA recently warned providers that failing to adapt to changes in the FE sector could put their future in the market at risk He said: “There is, I think, a lot of opportunity for innovation. Providers do need to diversify; they need to be the first port of call for employers.” How do we innovate and where are the new opportunities?

Summary so Far… Mergers Partnerships Apprenticeships Business Model New opportunities

Emsi’s Mission & the Role of Data We believe that data can and should play a key part in solutions to the issues mentioned above Emsi’s Mission is: “To provide a dataset that builds a common language and understanding for local stakeholders to make better, more informed, joined up decisions to meet local need and drive local growth” How can data help?

How can Data Help? Mergers Data can help drive a successful merger by evaluating areas of over and under supply into the local economy, and also to investigate which “new sub- sectors” to invest into Partnerships Data can be used as a common language to work more effectively with LEPs, and to challenge their priorities, and to forge better partnerships with local industry Apprenticeships Data can be used to identify areas of industry growth and skills gaps, which can then be used as part of a more strategic way of engaging employers for apprenticeships than a “scattergun” phone list approach

How can Data Help? Business Model Data can build a level of market insight that can help colleges forge a better business model based on a robust understanding of local skills demand New Opportunities Data can help identify which industries are set to grow, and so lift the lid on where some of the new opportunities might lie for innovation

How can Data Help? What is the UK’s best natural resource? Coal? Oil? Farmland? At Emsi we believe that the best resource we have is our people, their skills and their potential to bring growth and prosperity At present we all know there is a skills gap Good data, used well, can do a massive job of bridging this gap, helping colleges, LEPs and Local Authorities to better understand the skills need of their economy, and better contribute to local economic growth and better employability.