Vocational qualifications

Vocational qualifications are becoming increasingly popular with students although there are signs that overall growth in further education is slowing, according to the latest funding council figures, writes Alan Thomson.

At NVQ level 2, broadly equivalent to GCSE, the number of people enrolled rose by 6 per cent and for GNVQs by 2.2 per cent. Level 3, equivalent to A/AS level, saw a 10.8 per cent rise in NVQ enrolments over 1995, while GNVQs grew by 4.8 per cent, according to the latest Further Education Funding Council figures taken last November.

The FEFC figures show that there were 2.35 million students enrolled on November 1. This is a rise of just 0.2 per cent (4,500) on November 1, 1995 and a 5 per cent (113,800) increase on 1994.