The clock is ticking towards the moment when the long-delayed Lifelong Learning Entitlement finally goes “live”. Higher Education providers will be able to take applications from September 2026, with first courses due to run from January 2027.
For the first time, adults up to the age of 60 will be able to take out a loan for short higher education courses, the minimum threshold set at 30 credits, equivalent to 120 hours of study. Someone who has never taken out a student loan will have access to up to £38,140 at the current fee cap level, equal to 4 years at £9,535; those who haven’t used their full loan entitlement will be able to use whatever they have left over.
Credit for the original idea must go to the irrepressible Baroness Alison Wolf, already the architect of 16-19 Study Programmes and the Apprenticeship Levy, and currently advocating for a complete devolution of apprenticeships to local strategic authorities (don’t miss her in full flow debating apprenticeships at our Annual Conference). In her 2016 paper, “Remaking Tertiary Education” Baroness Wolf argued that the student loan system effectively shuts working adults out of the HE system. A “single lifetime tertiary education entitlement”, as she called it, would give individuals more choice as consumers of HE by enabling them to “shop around” for good value qualifications and take more control over their own progression pathway through the higher qualification landscape.
Which is why the LEI has supported the policy since it was first introduced in the 2021 Skills Bill; indeed our predecessor organisation, the Lifelong Education Commission, was set-up by ex-universities minister Chris Skidmore to provide a voice for the sector as the legislation went through Parliament. Despite having flaws, we still believe that the LLE will be a game-changer.
For a start, it will introduce an element of price competition to the HE market, which will accelerate innovation in course design and delivery. One of the biggest miscalculations made when the student loan system was launched was the government’s assumption that providers would compete on price. As we all now know, virtually every HEI rapidly moved to charge the maximum fee allowable, because higher education is what economists classify as a Veblen good, where price is seen by consumers as a proxy for quality. In a system where the prestige and reputation of universities is a major factor in their success, no institution wants to be seen as “cheap”.
This logic won’t apply to the LLE student to anywhere near the same extent. Working adults, in contrast to school leavers, already have significant financial commitments and will be very focused on value for money. Their motivation for taking higher education courses will be highly transactional, based on assessing the likelihood that the new skills and qualifications they might gain will improve their earnings and career prospects, not on the status of the institutions that deliver them. A candidate gaining a qualification in Chartered Surveying from a Russell Group university is unlikely to have any significant advantage in the jobs market over others.
This means that offering courses at lower prices will be an important aspect of LLE marketing strategy. Providers who can deliver most cost-effectively will have an advantage. Parts of the HE sector that haven’t thrived under the student loan regime stand to benefit; for example FE Colleges that typically have lower staff costs and overheads than most universities. Smaller HEIs, especially specialist institutions which prioritise teaching rather than research, will also find themselves in a strong position. Having said that, any HEI that is prepared to re-engineer its business model to maximise cost efficiency and value for money will be able to compete successfully for LLE students.
The other key success factor will be the ability to deliver flexibly, using hybrid options that blend face-to-face with online study; an approach best adapted to the needs of working adults. Those institutions that have invested in developing online teaching systems – which include many universities and commercial training providers – will have a distinct advantage. The biggest practical challenge faced by many traditional HEIs is that their enrolment systems are typically not designed to cope with students who wish to make multiple separate enrolments at different times of the academic year, although many are now working to overcome this hurdle. This is where FE Colleges have the advantage of much more flexible enrolment processes that are already adapted to roll-on-roll-off delivery models.
Significant problems remain if the LLE is to be successful. One is the portability question – there isn’t any national system in place for students to be able to easily transfer credits earned from one provider to another. Another is the fact that only HE courses at Level 4 and above will be in scope. Ideas for overcoming both these limitations were explored in our 2024 report, “Making Lifelong Education Work: Skills Accounts for Bite-Size Learning” and will be the focus of our forthcoming online panel event on 20th May. The prospects for the LLE and how to implement it effectively will be a key theme at our Annual Conference on 29th April, and further events are planned as the launch of the LLE draws ever closer.
Our key message to providers is to “wake up and smell the coffee”! The LLE will be a welcome stimulus in a world where new income opportunities are few and far between, and whatever it’s limitations, is something we should all be looking at very closely.
Comentarios