Now, I know what you’re all thinking: “not another article about our vote to leave the EU!”, but don’t fear, this isn’t a political piece littered with soundbites and questionable figures. It’s about our day jobs.
We can’t get away from the fact that – for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness or in health – parting ways with the EU will (and has already started to) bring about a significant shift economically, politically and relationally with other nations. The impact will be felt in nearly every industry, and FE and skills is no exception. So what does the recent vote to leave the EU mean for our sector?
EU-funded training programmes
Let’s start with the obvious one – EU-funded training programmes. The latest European Social Fund (ESF) programme started last year and finishes in 2020. ESF spending amounts to around 10% of the EU’s total budget. This represents a significant investment in training for the unemployed, innovation, creating jobs and supporting vulnerable and excluded groups – as well as encouraging organisations to dig into their pockets through match-funding.
There is more – the EU also funds a variety of projects through Erasmus Plus (and related programmes) which aim to upskill the EU workforce in different industries, help fill skills gaps and encourage EU nations to collaborate and learn from each other.
Once our official exit from the EU takes place, a gap will emerge. Potentially two and a half years from now, investment will cease. So who picks up where the EU left off, to run comparable programmes encouraging economic and social cohesion? Who will run similar training that invests in lifelong learning and addresses any deficit in skills?
Those who have been backing to leave will argue that the UK government will – with the additional cash saved from our EU membership fee. More than that, they will argue, we will have greater control over how it is spent with a lot less bureaucracy.
Students from abroad
Then there’s students who come from abroad to study in our colleges and providers. Statistics from the Association of Colleges (taken from the 2012-13 ILR) show that colleges educate 41,500 students from abroad, 23,500 of which are from the EU. It is difficult to dismiss that ‘free movement of people’ has made it considerably easier for students from EU countries to come and study with colleges and providers in the UK – benefiting our sector and the business/s who employ them. Will a new immigration system, resulting from our Brexit vote, limit the number of students from EU countries, or would it stay largely the same? It isn’t clear.
Recruiting the right talent
Linked to this is the need for businesses to recruit individuals with the right skills. The skills deficit in particularly industries means employers are having to look outside of the UK to recruit the talent they need. Some are worried that Brexit will only deepen this gap in skills, as it would potentially be harder to recruit from other EU nations. Those who have backed to leave (many of whom favour an Australian ‘points-based’ immigration system) have argued that in fact, we would have greater control – only recruiting those where the skills are required and limiting immigration where there is an over-supply of talent.
Funding apprenticeships
Our sector minister, Nick Boles, hasn’t been silent on the impact of Brexit either. Only a few weeks ago, he said that the government’s plans to introduce an apprenticeship levy among large wage bill employers could be put on hold, if businesses were to be adversely affected by a vote to leave the EU. The levy is an important plank in the government’s plans to fund apprenticeships and drive its growth. So was this a credible statement from the Skills Minister, or scaremongering? Only time will tell.
There’s a lot to grapple with – and that’s before we even consider the potential change to education policy and makeup of our workforce, resulting from the broader economic and political shift that our vote to leave will bring.
One thing’s for sure, this is only the start of the conversation.
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SDN is a team of leading experts in FE and skills. We are heavily involved in the apprenticeship reforms – working with employer groups developing standards, supporting providers to implement the reforms, helping organisations to offer end-point assessment, and supporting employers with the levy.
Contact us: tim@strategicdevelopmentnetwork.co.uk