ABSTRACT
This chapter, through first-hand experience, emphasises that change takes time, and how an innovatory academic programme develops as its practical implications become clear. In 1989, Portsmouth Polytechnic (University of Portsmouth from 1992) won funding from Shell and the UK government for a degree programme for individuals who had left school at 16, gained Technical Vocational Educational Initiative (TVEI) and Youth Training Scheme (YTS) qualifications yet had not previously considered entry to higher education (Yeomans 2002). This was to build on preliminary work already done in investigating employer support for such a qualification (Claridge 1989: 1). The aims of the proposed Partnership Degree Programme were to ‘attract capable students of 18+ who had not previously considered entry to higher education’, provide ‘work and study as a balanced integrated experience’ with ‘university attendance for selected classes’ and learning from ‘independent task-based learning’. The Partnership Degree Programme was seen as ‘a way of retaining staff, providing career and progression routes, and increasing profitability’ through degree programmes that ‘respond in a broad and flexible manner to local employment needs’.
