Did you know?

There are 44 HE colleges and specialist institutions in England and Northern Ireland. Their average size is about 3,500 students (although they range from under 500 to over 11,000 students). They include many specialist institutions, notably in the fields of art and design, music and the performing arts, education and agriculture. About one third of HE colleges are church colleges.

HE colleges and specialist institutions are part of the university sector.They are subject to all the same public accountability and quality assurance processes as universities.A growing number have gained their own degree awarding powers; others award the degrees of an accrediting university.

HE colleges and specialist institutions educate about 10% of all HE students across the UK.They are major providers of higher education in a number of key subjects which are critical to the future social and economic success of the UK:

• the creative arts (we produce nearly 35% of graduates in art, design, music, and the performing arts); these graduates make a direct contribution to the UK's recognised strengths in the creative industries;
• education: we educate and train a third of all new teachers; HE colleges are amongst the top providers of initial teacher training, as recognised in the Teacher Training Agency Performance Profiles;
• agriculture; the specialist land-based colleges produce a quarter of all graduates in the land-based industries; they are key to the need for a new focus on agriculture and rural regeneration;
• health professions: we educate and train about 12% of nurses and many other related health professionals.

• widening participation, student retention and achievement: in the latest higher education performance indicators, nearly 77% of all HE colleges met or exceeded their targets for seeing students through to successful graduation (71% of universities achieve this);
• professional practice: providing high quality, practice-based, professional higher education; many institutions make extensive use of practising professionals, alongside opportunities for work placements and company projects;
• employability: seeing graduates through to successful employment (in the higher education employment indicators, 80% of SCOP members met or exceeded their employment targets compared to 61% of universities)