EDUCAT ION
CHARLOTTE PHILLIPS EXPLORES THE BENEFITS OF ADULT LEARNING, AS WELL AS THE OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE
hen it comes to adult education, our area isn’t so much rich in opportunities as at billionaire levels –
several times over. There’s almost nothing you can’t learn, from resurrecting long dormant skills to acquiring expertise in a new field. You can accumulate professional qualifications to boost your promotion prospects in an existing career, or to help you move in a new direction altogether. Local learners certainly seem to be convinced. In the last academic year, almost 2,500 adult students signed up for courses at Hills Road. At Madingley Hall, home of the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), there were 4,800 enrolments last year; a figure that’s predicted to rise to at least 5,500 in the 2019 to 2020 period. The figures are particularly impressive given the difficulties faced by adult education providers over the last few years. While universities are feeling the love in terms of public funding and attention (over £8 billion more in 2017-18), that’s definitely not the case for the 50% of 18 to 30 year olds who don’t make it to college, or for older non-graduates, says a recent report from the Department of Education. Between 2009 and 2018, funding for adult learning fell by 45% and the number of adult learners dropped from four million to 2.2 million between 2005 and 2016. Other countries take a different approach: in France, lifelong learning for workers is viewed so seriously that employers are assessed every six years to make sure they’re doing enough of it. It’s also free. “It’s legislative and it’s mandatory,” says Dr Deirdre Hughes, associate fellow at the University of
“We need to focus nationally on adult education”
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