DEMAND for low cost and locally-based routes to honours degrees has resulted in record numbers of students signing up for foundation degrees, according to new figures from South West College.
In four years, enrolments on the vocational courses increased by 77% as the college, employers and universities jointly rolled out 23 programmes that have helped more than 3,000 to study locally and consider progressing to a full honours degree or professional qualification.
The work-based qualifications combine academic study with workplace learning and typically take two years of full-time study or three years part-time. The latest foundation degree in arts & design with specialisms in product and graphic design, brings the total number of anticipated places available at South West College this term to more than 800.
William Young, industrial liaison officer South West College, said the courses were designed with employers to ensure industrial needs can be quickly met with well-trained and high calibre talent:
“As our economy emerges from this deep and long recession, employers are focussing more and more on key employability skills. Gone are the days when employers could enjoy the luxury of extensive in-house training for new staff,” he said.
“The foundation degree, with the excellent blend of the academic and the vocational, provides a potential employer with the ready-made skills required to be effective and productive from day one.
“The South West College, through the Industrial Advisory Boards, encourages employers to be directly involved in the design and development of the curriculum content for the foundation degrees, thus ensuring that the training is relevant to meet their employment needs.
“A measure of the success of the Foundation Degree Programme has been the increasing trend by employers, who have given work placement experience to college students, to seek to retain those students in fulltime employment after graduation.”
Hillsborough-based GRAHAM Construction holds wellestablished links with South West College and has partnered with the college on a number of foundation degrees.
Emer Murnaghan, business improvement manager at the firm said: “The foundation degree format is a key route within the GRAHAM Academy for young people to blend their ‘on the job’ experience with relevant and rigorous academic knowledge.”