Lifelong Learning Entitlement

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Bath Spa University response to new Lifelong Learning Entitlement

Wednesday, 20 September, 2023

The Government's Lifelong Learning Bill became law on 18 September, transforming the student finance system, and opening up opportunities for adults to study in a way that works for them. 

The Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) will give all adults from 2025 access to loans, worth up to £37,000 in today’s fees, that they can use flexibly over their working lives to upskill or retrain.

As explained on the Government’s website, ‘people will be able to take out a student loan to pay for full-time courses such as university degrees or higher technical qualifications (HTQs), as well as for some individual modules of courses. 

‘People who have already taken out a loan for a degree will also be able to use the rest of their entitlement to study subjects that will help them gain additional skills that employers are looking for, making it easier for people to build up their skills over time. This includes studying individual modules of degree courses or HTQs to help them to do this in a way that fits round their lives and commitments.

‘To prepare for the introduction of the LLE, a new £5 million scheme has launched to encourage universities and colleges to develop and offer individual modules of HTQs in a flexible way.’

The LLE will transform the post-18 student finance system in England. From September 2025, it will create a single funding system to help people pay for college or university courses, and train, retrain and upskill flexibly over their working lives.

As quoted on the Gov.uk website, Professor Sue Rigby, Vice-Chancellor of Bath Spa University, said:

“Opening up higher education by allowing learners to dip in and out of study throughout their career is a dramatic and transformational move. It will increase the skills base that drives the economy and allow people to learn what they need to thrive when they are ready to do so.”

Bath Spa was recently awarded Sunday Times University of the Year for Social Inclusion 2023-24 and already runs successful Government- and regional-sponsored short course and bootcamp programmes which have supported over 1000 adult learners across a developing range of subjects from creative digital to sustainability to healthcare. The courses are co-created with leading industry partners and with other educational providers, particularly in further education.

The University has developed a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Framework and approves individual modules as short courses and awards credit for these outside of full degree qualifications. The LLE will enable people to take these modules and potentially stack them up into larger qualifications over time and as their needs (and those of the labour market) change. Under the new system, returning students will be able to study at the same or a lower level than any qualification they previously studied, something that the current system does not allow. 

Bath Spa is currently working with several educational partners to explore how it might offer Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) in the future. These are level 4 and 5 qualifications approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education. Modules from these HTQs will be eligible for LLE funding from 2025 onwards and will provide further flexibility for learners who wish to upskill or reskill in areas of industry demand. 

Dr Charles Wiffen, Head of Academic Portfolio Development at Bath Spa University, said:

“We welcome the LLE and the flexibility that this will bring to individual adult learners and to the wider economy. The historic divide between so-called academic and technical skills should not prevent learners from developing new skills or from accessing high-quality courses. We believe the LLE will unlock important new opportunities for adult learners and that there will be demand for well designed, stackable and accessible modular provision.”

Professor Andy Salmon, Pro Vice Chancellor for External Affairs and Innovation at Bath Spa University, said:

“To design holistic, agile programmes which align with the evolving needs of learners and joined-up delivery is essential if we are to meet the reskilling and upskilling challenge behind the bootcamps and within the LLE.”