STUDENTS will be able to gain an honours degree in only two years as part of a “study anytime” revolution for higher education.

Long summer holidays will end for undergraduates on “compressed” degrees as they complete their studies a year early so that they can get on with their careers with reduced levels of debt. Others will take courses entirely at work and through online study in an effort to raise the proportion of adults with degree qualifications. They will be given credit towards their degrees for skills learnt on training courses.

A common system of American-style credit accumulation will also allow students to take study breaks and complete degrees later, possibly at different institutions.

Bill Rammell, the Higher Education Minister, said that the proposals would change the face of higher education provision. He told The Times yesterday that radical reform was crucial if Britain was to compete with the rising economic power of China and India. China overtook Britain as the world’s fourth-largest economy this month.

Half of new British jobs would require a graduate qualification by 2012, he said. But, while the numbers at university continued to rise, the proportion of people entering higher education had stalled below the Government’s target of 50 per cent. “We have to be more flexible and innovative. Getting more people into higher education is both a social and economic imperative as the international competition looms large.

Higher education had to become “less supplier driven” and take more account of the needs of different customers. Traditional degrees had been organised for the convenience of academics rather than students. “The assumption was that studies would be taken over a fixed period of time, punctuated by a holiday pattern driven by university rather than student needs,” Mr Rammell said.

“For many young people the traditional three-year degree allowed for a range of experience of immense personal value. But just because a model fits some people well doesn’t mean it fits all — and increasingly we live in a world where people expect that service providers will have scope to offer flexibility, not uniformity.

“A model of full-time provision that dictates that an honours degree must last three years rather than a much more intensive but shorter period of time is, ultimately, supplier driven.”

More flexible courses would allow people “to learn when, where, and in ways that meet their learning needs, preferences and abilities best”. The Government was “very interested” in giving the option of two-year compressed honours degrees. “We would need to ensure the competencies and skills acquired by a student undertaking a compressed degree were the same as a student undertaking a traditional three-year course. However, I believe that two-year degree courses would offer a great opportunity to many students and would encourage those who would not usually feel able to take three years out of their lives to study to see that a degree may be possible for them.”

The Higher Education Funding Council for England will begin pilot programmes for compressed degrees at five universities in September, covering a range of subjects.

Mr Rammell said that a common credit framework for universities, now under development, would help students “to complete their education at their own pace, in different modes of study, and in different locations”.

The Government also wanted a greater “diversity of provider” in higher education. More degrees would be taught in further education colleges in partnerships with universities. Some students would find it easier to take degrees in the “more supportive atmosphere” of FE colleges, where they may have studied on vocational courses since the age of 14.

Pilot schemes providing degrees at work will begin in September. Further education colleges and universities will offer employers “customised provision” to train staff in skills related to businesses. Mr Rammell told university chiefs last week that more degrees should be “partly or wholly designed, funded or provided by employers”.

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