New Frontiers for College Education
International Perspectives

The college sector is facing a growing number of new challenges caused by technological change, globalisation and the growth of mass higher education. New Frontiers for College Education considers the impact these changes have had and explores the developing role of college education in countries throughout the world. Whilst analysing the issues associated with providing high quality vocational education and training, the book also reflects on the role of colleges in widening access to both further and higher education.

Drawing together contributions from leading international academics, policymakers and practitioners, the book explores common themes across these diverse societies, as well as some of the key challenges experienced within individual countries. It considers the distinctive contributions that colleges can make in responding to these challenges through apprenticeships and other types of vocational education and training. Contributors discuss the growing emphasis on creating more integrated systems of tertiary education, recognising that colleges and universities are now expected to work more closely together and that these diverse demands can be difficult to reconcile.

Providing an authoritative and timely analysis of the changing role of colleges in contemporary society, this book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students in the areas of further and higher education, vocational education and training, lifelong learning, and skills development. It should also be essential reading for policymakers, as well as practitioners working in colleges and other institutions of higher and further education.

Section 1The changing context for colleges

1 New Frontiers for college education: the challenges.

Jim Gallacher and Fiona Reeve

2 Technical and professional education – a defining role

for further education colleges?

Martin Doel

3 Post Leaving Certificate Education in Ireland: Managing Different Goals

Emer Smyth,

4 New frontiers in college education

Paul Little

Section 2 Skills, colleges and vocational education and training

5 FE colleges in England and the skills policy agenda

Ewart Keep

6 SkillsFuture: Breaking New Ground, Creating New Pathways

Ng Cher Pong

7 The art of balance: how Chinese vocational education integrates with industry

Ni Tang and Dayong Yuan

Section 3 Colleges and vocational qualifications

8 Apprenticeships and social mobility: real choices for young people

Conor Ryan, (Director of Research and Communications Sutton Trust)

9 Is there a higher level skills gap that colleges can fill?

Fiona Reeve and Jim Gallacher

10 How are ‘applied degrees’ applied in Ontario colleges of applied arts and technology?

Gavin Moodie, Michael L Skolnik, Leesa Wheelahan, Qin Liu, Diane Simpson, and Edmund G. Adam

11 Problems and Challenges of Full-time and School-based VET in Germany

Thomas Deissinger

Section 4 Relationships between further and higher education

12 Seeking distinction and addressing inequalities: an analysis of new times for college-based higher education in England

Anne-marie Bathmaker

13 Social justice and widening access to higher education in Scotland: the role of Scottish colleges

Sheila Riddell and Lucy Hunter Blackburn

14 The American Community College: Complex Missions, Challenging Reforms

Kevin J. Dougherty, Hana Lahr and Vanessa S. Morest

Conclusions

15 Challenges for college education: reflections and some conclusions

Jim Gallacher and Fiona Reeve

Jim Gallacher is Emeritus Professor of Lifelong Learning at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Fiona Reeve is Senior Lecturer in Lifelong Learning at the Open University.