PRESS RELEASE : Enrolment at sixth-form colleges – response to survey by the Association of Colleges [October 2011]

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 13 October 2011.

Responding to the survey about enrolment at sixth-form colleges by the Association of Colleges, a Department for Education spokesman said:

We don’t think the AoC survey is particularly robust. There is a drop in overall student numbers of 40,000 this year – and this survey shows a drop of 600 overall. Only half colleges choose to respond and even of them, the majority showed the enrolment numbers were steady or risen and over a quarter had risen between 5 and 10 per cent.

Record numbers of 16- and 17-year-olds are already in education or training. We are increasing that further with more than 1.5 million places available from September – with every student guaranteed a suitable place in sixth-form, college or work-based training.

There are record numbers of university places being funded this year. There has been a massive increase in apprenticeships for anyone over 16 to learn a specific trade – 360,000 places in all available in more than 200 careers. And we are strengthening vocational education so young people will have high-quality courses open to them which are valued by employers.

We are targeting financial support at students who need it most to get through their studies – through the new £180 million a year bursary fund – with further transitional support available for those students who were already drawing the EMA.