The remit of the Leitch Review was to consider the development of world class skills in the UK, there are, however, proposals of significance to HE in FE, with higher education cited as a way to respond to the challenge to increase skills ‘We have made enormous progress expanding higher education – and this is critical to becoming a high-skill economy’.  (2006:2).  The review focused primarily on provision for adults and identified the need for a demand-led system and to increase basic, intermediate and higher skills, ‘provision should be based on new types of programme offering specific, job-related skills such as Foundation Degrees’. (2006:67). The importance of employer engagement and collaborative partnerships in improving the skills base are highlighted as key.

There was a recommendation for an improvement in the number of adults with a level 4 qualification rather than the focus of recent years on young people to attend university. ‘The review’s recommendation is to exceed 40 per cent of the adult population with Level 4 or above skills, widening the drive to improve the UK’s high skills to encompass the whole working age population’ (2006:21).

The review acknowledges the role of colleges in delivering low and intermediate skills however, there is a specific reference to HE in FE - ‘New ambitions for the amount and type of higher level skills will also depend, in part, on the FE sector, with a greater role in delivering employer facing learning at Levels 4 and 5, including Foundation degrees’ (2006:84).

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