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This ½¿É«µ¼º½ Blog special issue examines possible futures for tertiary education in England and the challenges that are faced by policymakers, institutional leaders, educators and researchers in realising these futures. While there is consensus that England is moving towards an integrated tertiary education system, there is in practice. What is clear is that this system will be in marked contrast to the disconnected set of quasi-markets incorporating a range of higher, further and continuing education providers that currently constitutes tertiary education in England.

The changes are part of a global trend towards the radical transformation of the ways in which tertiary education systems are structured, governed, funded and realised (Hazelkorn & Locke, 2023). International policy narratives, such as the , are explicitly focusing on tertiary education, and national educational policies are increasingly taking a turn towards integrating tertiary education. For example, in the UK, and are already developing tertiary education systems, whereas in England progress has been more haphazard and uncertain. However, the recent appears to signal a decisive shift towards a single tertiary education system in England, which has been made particularly urgent by currently facing a large proportion of further and higher education institutions in England.

The contributions to this special issue seek to move beyond the immediacy of these issues to offer some potential pathways for the development of an integrated tertiary education system in England. As a whole, they highlight four tensions raised by the move to a tertiary education system in England. First, how to move to an integrated national tertiary education system that is regionally responsive. Second, to what extent will the shift to tertiary education serve to conceal the inequalities related to who gets access to elite and to mass tertiary education in England? Third, how to work through the tensions created by the shift towards people paying for their own tertiary education. For example, how much can national and regional policymakers direct people to particular kinds of education and training when individuals are expected to pay for it themselves through a system of loans? Finally, how to balance the need for a tertiary education system to support people to develop fulfilling lives as well as successful working careers.

In the first blog post in this special issue, Ellen Hazelkorn considers what tertiary education might mean in England. She questions whether it will simply become a different way of describing existing provision or help to create an inclusive system of tertiary education.

Discussion then moves to consider the politics of building a tertiary education system. In the second post, Charles Clarke explores the difficult issues faced by politicians by moving to an integrated tertiary education system in England. He identifies the common ground that exists to help them to address these issues. Gonzalo Hidalgo Bazán then extends the discussion of the political issues faced in building a tertiary education system, by considering the need to balance economic objectives with broader educational and social aims.

Examining the configuration of the tertiary education system in England, Ewart Keep examines how a tertiary education system might be designed to meet the skills challenges of improving adult skills, the rate of technological change and the growth of digitalisation and generative AI. In his blog post, James Robson argues that, for a tertiary education system to be successful, the relationship between sectors and institutions needs to be radically reconfigured. Xin Xu then contends that an integrated tertiary system would need to overcome the existing fragmentation between ‘research and innovation’ and ‘education and training’. She suggests that this could be achieved through regional hubs.

Developing the theme of a regional tertiary education strategy further, Huw Morris argues for a devolved strategy that enables tertiary education to evolve regionally and locally to better align with the economic needs and aspirations of local communities. In his blog post, Andy Westwood similarly argues for the building of regional tertiary education systems and considers how individual institutions might help to design and deliver more integrated local tertiary education systems.

To conclude the series, the final three blog posts consider the kind of education people might experience when they engage in tertiary education. Chris Millward argues that tertiary education needs to provide learners with diverse routes through all levels of tertiary education. Paul Ashwin then reasons that tertiary education needs to be built around giving people access to knowledge-rich skills rather than the empty generic skills that appear so frequently in policy documents. In the final post, Ann-Marie Bathmaker contends that the tertiary system needs to embrace a much more expansive definition of adult lifelong learning, which will support people in navigating all aspects of their lives, not just their working lives.

The intention of this ½¿É«µ¼º½ Blog special issue is to open up debates about the development of a tertiary education system in England. Evidence-informed discussions about tertiary education are essential if we are to develop an inclusive and transformative tertiary education system in England. We hope the posts in this special issue contribute to the development of such discussions.

References

Hazelkorn, E., & Locke, W. (2023). Researching tertiary education ecosystems. Policy Reviews in Higher Education,Ìý7(2), 123-126.