The outcomes are at best satisfactory with all three colleges bruised and battered with largely Grade 3 awards for teaching and learning and a rash of Grade 4s. FE colleges have spent the last ten years responding to the FEFC inspection agenda of providing value for money by reducing class contact hours, raising staff teaching hours and raising group sizes. In addition the demands of monitoring all aspects of course costs including accommodation have resulted in a major growth in administration staff to collate and feed in the statistics.
Some colleges have more administration staff than academic staff.
The sector is now financially lean and fit but at a cost of many redundancies and mergers. Read the CIF, Read the Inspector's Handbook and read the first reports.