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The education structures for Wales and Northern Ireland are broadly similar to the English system, but there are significant differences of emphasis in the depth and breadth of teaching objectives in Scotland. Traditionally the English system emphasises depth of education, whereas the Scottish system emphasises breadth.
Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as graduate school). In the United Kingdom post-secondary education below the level of higher education is referred to as further education. Higher education in that country generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification.
In most developed countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.
There can be disagreement about what precisely constitutes post-secondary or tertiary education: "It is not always clear, though, what tertiary education includes. Is it only that which results in a formal qualification or might it include leisure classes? In the UK, are A-levels tertiary education as they are post-compulsory but taught in school settings as well as colleges? Is professional updating or on-the-job training part of tertiary education, even if it does not follow successful completion of secondary education?"[1]
There are two types of higher education, the higher general education and the higher vocational education.
Most recently, after the 2001 general election, the employment functions were transferred to a newly created Department for Work and Pensions, with the DfEE becoming the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
In addition to distributing both teaching and research funding to higher education institutions HEFCE is also involved with: widening participation; developing links between higher education institutions and business and the community; and enhancing leadership, governance and management within the sector. It provides both a contribution to core funding, and ring-fenced funding for special initiatives, projects and strategic aims.
The creation of QAA was a culmination of a decade's worth of reform in the quality assurance of UKhigher education. Eventually it was the work of the Joint Planning Group for Quality Assurance in Higher Education that suggested bringing together the two streams of quality assurance - subject review and institutional audit - into one body for the first time.
QAA's first chief executive was John Randall. He served from 1997 to 2001 when he resigned. His shoes were filled, first on an interim basis then permanently, by Peter Williams who moved up from the post of Director of Institutional Review.
The main activities of the QAA are to ensure the quality of education delivered in UK Universities and other institutions of Higher Education. This is done at a subject level, and also at an institutional level, using periodic reviews. These reviews involve the production of self-evaluation documents by the institutions, and audit visits of the institution by QAA auditors.
Funding
QAA has three forms of income:
subscriptions from UK higher education institutions
contracts with the main higher education funding bodies
contracts with professional, statutory and other bodies
The main academic qualification available to 16-18 year olds is the Advanced LevelGCE. An A-Level consists of 6 modules in each subject, three of which are typically taken in the first year. After taking 3 modules, students can choose either to continue studying the subject to obtain a A-Level, or to "cash in" the first three modules for an AS-Level. Students aiming for university entry typically study 3 or 4 subjects to A-Level and an additional (often contrasting) subject to AS-Level. Alternative vocational qualifications such as the AVCE can also be studied. Most students can expect to receive a university offer based almost entirely upon the results of their A-Levels, either with specific grades or using the UCAS Tariff.
Year 12 or Lower Sixth, age 16 to 17 (AS-level examinations)
Year 13 or Upper Sixth, age 17 to 18 (A2-level examinations. Both AS-levels and A2-levels count towards A-levels.)
A Degree is any of a wide range of status levels conferred by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study.
The Higher Education Academy is an independent organisation in the United Kingdom that supports higher education institutions with strategies for the development of research and evaluation to improve the learning experience for students. It was founded in May 2004, and is funded by grants from four funding bodies in the UK (HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW and DELNI, subscriptions from higher education institutions, and grant/contract income for organised initiatives. It is owned by the Higher Education sector (Universities UK and the Standing Conference of Principals). The Higher Education Academy administers the UK's annual National Teaching Fellowship awards. Subject specific learning and teaching issues are supported by 24 subject centres with specific discipline foci and are based in higher education institutions throughout the UK.
HEFCE is pursuing this policy through a number of measures, including the payment of financial incentives to universities, and by funding the Aimhigher programme.
This policy is linked to the Labour government's target of increasing participation in higher education to 50% by 2010, and is part of a wider drive to achieve social justice.
External links
Action on Access is the National Co-ordination Team for HEFCE's Widening Participation Activities. Based at Edge Hill University in the North West of England, Action on Access provides an invaluable resource for widening participation practitioners in Higher Education Institutions and partnerships.
Aimhigher is an umbrella term to describe initiatives aimed at widening participation in UK higher education, particularly among students from non-traditional backgrounds, minority groups and disabled persons.
Aimhigher was created in 2004 through the integration of two earlier initiatives, Partnerships for Progression (P4P) and Excellence Challenge, bringing together a wide range of partners, including universities, colleges, schools, training providers and the Connexions service. It is currently funded through to the end of July 2008.
The Aimhigher student portal website [link: http://www.aimhigher.ac.uk/] contains information for those people thinking about entering higher education in England and the wider UK and aims to bring together necessary information from which prospective students can make decisions about institutions and courses, and financial matters.
The site also aims to promote the widening participation initiative in UK higher education.
The site is created and managed by HERO Ltd, who produce the Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the UK (HERO) [link: http://www.hero.ac.uk/] website.
A Mature Student (aka adult student) in tertiary education (at a university or a college) is normally classified as an (undergraduate) student who is at least 21 years old at the start of their course and usually having been away from school for at least two years. Mature students can also include students away from school for decades or students with no secondary education as situations allow. Mature students also make up graduate and post graduate populations merely by demographic of age.
Mature students are otherwise indistinguishable from younger students in that they study full-time, most-time, part-time, occasional, and at a distance (correspondence, Internet, or other remote means).
For example, most of the students at the Open University in the United Kingdom, where students can study part-time from home, are mature students wishing to gain a degree later in life, perhaps because the opportunity was not available to them when they left school.
The normal entry requirements for school-leavers wishing to start an undergraduate degree are often not applied to mature students. However, this varies by jurisdiction, and prospective students should consult the admissions office for verification on what is and is not required.
A good example of a mature student is the female protagonist, Rita, in Willy Russell's play, Educating Rita. As one of the early Open University students, she seeks to expand her knowledge of literature and the academic world, and in doing so broadens her own horizons and character.
A large number of semi-recreational courses, with or without qualifications, are made available by Local Education Authorities under the guise of Adult Education, such as holiday languages, crafts and yacht navigation.
Research is often described as an active, diligent, and systematic process of inquiry aimed at discovering, interpreting, and revisingfacts. This intellectualinvestigation produces a greater knowledge of events, behaviors, theories, and laws and makes practical applications possible. The term research is also used to describe an entire collection of information about a particular subject, and is usually associated with the output of science and the scientific method. The word research derives from the obsolete french recherche from rechercher, to search closely where "chercher" means "to search" (see French language); its literal meaning is 'to investigate thoroughly'.
