What's Going On In The Sector?

In general there is good news for education. Post school education is one of two booming businesses in these early years of the 21st century - the other being healthcare. We have more people participating in education than ever before and the future looks even brighter.

However, the growth in demand for post school education brings its own issues for institutions in terms of resources, particularly staffing, and facilities. These issues are compounded by a range of factors and top of the list for most is the level of funding. The amount of cash available per student has always been an issue for the post school education sector. The 'unit of resource', for as long as most of us can remember, has always been reducing and increased numbers have not always produced increased income, indeed in some cases more students has even resulted in financial penalty. This financial pressure is compounded by levels of increased accountability required from institutions by various bodies - not just in the area of QA but also from a constantly tightening legislative framework, such as employment law and systems of detailed accountability from government and funding bodies. The resulting resource pressure makes it more important than ever before that institutions develop effective and efficient approaches to their main activity of teaching and learning - using space as a part of this strategy. The important contribution that space can make to overall strategy is widely acknowledged, such as in the introduction to the LSC's prospectus for the 'Agenda for Change' by Mark Haysom.