The downward slope: engineering HE and vocational qualifications in terminal decline?

Using published data this paper analyses the trends in the numbers of students entering higher education and the qualifications that they had on entry. It analyses the post-16 qualification of the student that feed the higher education (HE) system and concludes that the numbers of students with vocationally-related qualifications are showing the most worrying decline. The paper sets the scene for the radical changes taking place to the post-16 and which commenced in September 2000