The term “articulation” - like much of the jargon in education - does little to set the heart racing. But behind the rather grey phrase hides something truly exciting to anyone with an interest in providing opportunities to Scotland’s young people and addressing the attainment gap.
By allowing college students with HND or HNC qualifications to enter university with credit for their college qualification, it connects different parts of the education system in a way few other schemes could.
Where it operates well, it allows young people who may never otherwise have considered a university career to follow that path by going straight into the second or even third year. Because of that, it is potentially the most successful widening access initiative around.
But it is more than that. When at its best, and there are already examples of this in Scotland (see the news focus on pages 16-18 of this week’s TESS), articulation can become an ambition in itself.
Not only does articulation allow students to achieve a university degree in the four years we are so familiar with, it also gives them two years of high-quality vocational training with potentially much more practical experience than they would normally gain at university.
Especially in fields such as engineering or fashion - where hands-on experience will offer them a great advantage once they enter the world of work as graduates - this college-to-university route could become something for young people to aspire to in the same way that prestigious university routes have been for centuries.
Often, they will hear about this route while still in school.
Institutions have something to gain, too. For colleges, articulation can offer a clear progression route for many of their students, creating aspiration and ambition.
It may also, hopefully, help the way colleges are seen by the general public - not as somewhere for those who did not make it to university straight from school, but as an alternative that can lead to an equally successful career path.
In this week’s news focus, James Dunphy, head of the Department for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Access at Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University, highlights that there is something to gain for universities, too. College leavers, he stresses, often come to university with a different, but valuable, skillset to those who started at university straight after school.
So why are there such disparities in the availability of articulation routes across the country? We should not simply assume that it is institutional prejudice among well-established, prestigious universities with a worldwide reach and reputation, or an unwillingness on their part to change.
In last week’s TESS, they pointed out some of the barriers in establishing more routes for those from college - including the need to align the curriculum of different institutions, and limitations to funding. We all know that change in education takes time and no one would question the challenges both the college and university sectors face.
But if we truly believe that every student should have access to whatever route offers them the greatest chance at reaching their potential, there is only one way: universities and colleges will need to enter into dialogue and start working together.
Where institutions have managed to do this, you can see the magic it can produce. And it’s called articulation.
@JBelgutay
This is an article from the 20 May edition of TESS. This week’s TESS magazine is available in all good newsagents. To download the digital edition, Android users can click here and iOS users can click here
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