Tomlinson levels the playing field for vocational education says UVAC

The University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC) today welcomed the publication of the Tomlinson report, hailing it as a major step towards the acknowledgement of work-based routes and apprenticeships as valid paths for progression into higher education.

Professor Simon Roodhouse, chief executive of UVAC said:

Tomlinson’s recommendations open up the chance for thousands of young people to progress smoothly into higher education via a vocational route
- whether this is through apprenticeships, foundation degrees or work-based programmes. This can only be good news for individuals, society and employers.

Professor Roodhouse also applauded the comments made about the Tomlinson reforms by the minister for lifelong learning, further and higher education, Dr Kim Howells, at a Universities UK conference last week (Thursday, 14th October) as being indicative of the importance Government places on vocational learning. Dr Howells said:

There are now more diverse pathways into HE. Students apply to university with a range of qualifications and not just the traditional A-levels. If more and more universities start seeing the merits of vocational qualifications then this will help us build an equal vocational ladder of opportunity which has been missing from our education system for too long. This will become very important in the post-Tomlinson era.

Mr Tomlinson will be speaking at UVAC’s annual conference in York on the 4th November. UVAC’s chair, Professor David Melville, CBE, member of the Tomlinson Committee and vice chancellor of the University of Kent
said:

I’m delighted Mike Tomlinson will be joining the UVAC conference next month. Our members are committed to progression into vocational higher education and will be keen to discuss with him the ways in which they can support the implementation of the recommendations in today’s report.