Full Time and Part Time Adult Skills Learners – Destinations (2020-21 Year-End)

All levels

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Destination of unemployed adults

The destination data included in this report relates to leavers in academic year 2019/20. The College employs the services of J2 Research to carry out destination gathering at the end of each academic year. The destinations of adult learners studying Level 3 programmes demonstrate 87.5% positive destinations at Level 2, this drops slightly to 83.8% and at entry and Level 1 this drops to 62.2%.

Impact on Regional Skills and the Regional Economy

Breakdown of Learner Type

Our adult education provision can be broadly categorised into three strands:

• Strand 1: Professional and Technical Updating Programmes for Adults. These programmes will help adults develop skills for progression in their careers or for entry into higher education.
• Strand 2: Essential Skills Programmes for Adults. These are programmes aimed at developing essential skills for adults to support them progressing in work and life.
• Strand 3: Young Adults Completing Full Time Programmes. This provision is for a small group of learners usually aged between 19 and 21 years old who complete their full-time technical education programme, alongside full time learners aged 16-18 years.

The charts show how our adult learners are split between these three strands. Around 8% of adult learners belong to Strand 3. We have seen an increase in adults studying Strand 3 Technical Professional, +23% compared to the previous year. This is due to the continued response the West Midlands Combined Authority’s skills plan.

Adult learners by strand

Having an Impact Locally

The chart below shows the proportion of our adult learners that reside in the Dudley Local Authority, in the neighbouring authorities (Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Sandwell & Walsall) and outside of the region. More than half of our adult learners live in the Dudley borough (54%). 94% of our adults are from Dudley or the neighbouring boroughs demonstrating the impact we are having locally.

Adult learners based within region

STEM in the curriculum – trend analysis

The local economy relies on a workforce with high level skills and skills in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

The chart above shows the percentage of qualifications completed by adult learners that were in STEM related subjects. In 2020/21, 37% of our adults followed STEM programmes of study. This is a 7% increase compared with last year.