There are just under 4 million students studying or training in further education colleges in England. A small number of students take distance or open learning courses. The age of students studying in colleges varies from 16 to over 60. Around 1.1 million are under 25 years old, with just over 600,000 of these aged between 16 and 18. Men and women are fairly equally represented in colleges, although more women tend to take up study as they get older, often after bringing up a family.
Further education offers people a second chance at education,whatever their age or circumstances.