Publications in: Further education

A Guide to Privatisation – Best Practices and Procedures

Published:16 February, 2023

Many countries have privatised some or all of their State-Owned Enterprises in order to improve the efficiency of their economies and raise revenues for the government. Some of the privatisation experiences have been more successful than others and a wealth of knowledge on what works in a privatisation has been accumulated over the last 40 […]

The Economic Impact of the Russell Group Universities’ R&D Activities

Published:28 February, 2024

London Economics were commissioned to assess the economic impact of research and commercialisation activities undertaken by the 24 Russell Group universities on the UK economy. Our analysis estimates that the total economic impact of the Russell Group’s core research and commercialisation activities in 2021/22 was approximately £37.6 billion. In terms of the components of this […]

London Economics Awarded a Prestigious Grant from the Nuffield Foundation

Published:14 August, 2023

London Economics are pleased to announce that we have been awarded a prestigious grant from the Nuffield Foundation to model the resource implications – for students, graduates and the Exchequer – of the current Higher Education funding systems in the four nations of the UK. The analysis aims to improve the understanding the current fees […]

LE Europe HE Fees and Funding Options in Ireland

Published:4 May, 2022

London Economics’ sister company, LE Europe, as part of the AARC Consortium (incorporating AARC, LE Europe and Indecon) were commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) to provide an analysis of the sustainability of higher education (HE) and further education and training (FET) in Ireland. The project’s general objective was […]

The Impact of the Apprenticeship Levy on Apprenticeships and Other Training Outcomes – April 2021

Published:14 April, 2021

Since April 2017, UK employers with an annual pay bill above £3 million have contributed to the Apprenticeship Levy. In this paper we use a matched firm-learner dataset to explore changes in apprenticeship and other training outcomes between 2015/16 and 2018/19, a period which spans the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy. The findings reveal that […]

Understanding the Limitations of Graduate Outcome Measures in Higher Education – September 2018

Published:8 October, 2018

The structure and level of higher education student support funding continue to be key policy questions for the UK Government. Perceived as financially unstable, the current arrangements have recently been the subject of numerous Parliamentary reports on higher education fees and funding. In parallel to these reviews of the current structure of student support arrangements, […]

Evaluation of Prisoner Learning – June 2018

Published:07 June, 2018

London Economics were commissioned by the Department for Education and Ministry of Justice to undertake an analysis of the OLASS4 offender learning in prisons. The analysis combined information from the Individualised Learner Record (on publicly funded training) with Ministry of Justice data relating to prisoners’ criminogenic characteristics and re-offending, as well as earnings and employment […]

Settling the Counterfactual Debate: Is There a Preferable Counterfactual when Estimating the Returns to Vocational Qualifications? – April 2018

Published:11 April, 2018

Using information from the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data set, it is now possible to compare the characteristics and estimates for learners with different qualifications encompassing both types of counterfactuals used in the extant literature: learners in possession of qualifications at the ‘level-below’ and learners enrolling in similar vocational qualifications but failing to achieve (‘non-achievers’). […]

Peer Effects and Social Influence in Post-16 Educational Choice – November 2017

Published:20 November, 2017

Following the increase in the education participation age, individuals are now required to study towards either a vocational or academic qualification until their 18th birthday once they have completed their GCSEs. However, there is currently relatively little understanding of the factors which determine which route learners choose to follow. Attainment in secondary school is clearly […]

The Payoff to Vocational Qualifications: Reconciling Estimates from Survey and Administrative Data – December 2017

Published: November, 2017

Estimating the wage differentials associated with particular qualifications has increasingly become part of the general ‘returns to education’ literature. Two particular strands of the literature looking at such qualifications can be identified: the first uses data on individuals obtained through representative sample surveys, such as the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in the UK, while the […]

The Earnings Differentials Associated with Vocational Education and Training Using the Longitudinal Education Outcomes Data – October 2017

Published: October, 2017

For the first time, the matched Longitudinal Education Outcomes has been made available for analysis of qualification attainment and labour market outcomes in England. Using comprehensive information from different school, Further Education and Higher Education data sources, we estimate the association between achieving vocational qualifications at different levels of the Regulated Qualifications Framework and labour […]