THE government wants to re-educate the workforce with a mass expansion of university evening classes, weekend courses and part-time degrees.

Courses could include anything from part-time degrees in software design funded by employers to evening courses in art paid for entirely by the student.

John Denham, the universities secretary, will use his first main policy speech this week to warn universities that they should expand their adult intake to make up for a steep decline in the number of teenagers.

He will tell the Universities UK conference in Leicester that they will have to take greater responsibility for improving the skills of older workers who might never have had the chance of higher education.

In an interview, Denham said next month’s comprehensive spending review would include money for 5,000 extra places on courses in 2008-9, expanding to 10,000 to be funded partly by the taxpayer and partly by employers.

“The aim is not just to stimulate universities to offer more places to older students but [also] a cultural change in universities to design more of their education for the older part of the workforce,” Denham said.

“It raises a lot of issues about types of courses. You can talk about different patterns of study, different financing, more part-time study, more employer-financed courses.

“If you look at the future domestic supply of students, it is clearly going to be more diverse and somewhat older than in the past.”

The number of 18 to 20-year-olds, the core of the student population, is forecast to peak in 2010 and then fall by more than 12% over the next 10 years while older age groups increase.

Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, is studying how institutions should respond to changing demographics. Findings will be presented next year by Sir Muir Russell, principal of Glasgow University.

The decline in teenagers could have a damaging effect on university finances if undergraduate numbers fall.

Universities are preparing to press for the lifting of the £3,000 cap on tuition fees. But Denham said he would not even consider changes before a review due in 2009, which is also the probable year of the next election.

“We are not going to engage in that discussion,” he said. “We are not going to spend the next two years anticipating the review.”

In the interview, Denham also acknowledged he was uncertain if the target set by Tony Blair of 50% of young people going to university by 2010 would be met.

The current figure is about 43%, but, despite a rise in overall numbers, the proportion of teenagers going to university has gone up by only 1% since 2000.

“We will see what happens over the next couple of years,” said Denham. “The important thing is that the target of 50% stays there.”

He is also expected to tell institutions that they should intensify efforts to increase their intake from comprehensives, deprived areas and from families with no history of higher education.

Only 53.7% of Oxford’s students are from the state sector, while Cambridge has 57.9%. This is largely because independent schools have a disproportionately high number of A-grades, despite educating about 7% of pupils.

Denham said far more should be done to bring state school pupils into top universities.

“You couldn’t look at the profile of who gets to university and say that fairly reflects the distribution of talent and ability in our society,” he said. “The issue is about talent and ability, not about politically correct social engineering.”

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