The FE sector is undergoing its own learning curve. There is so much happening in the sector at the moment, which is producing both challenges and opportunities. There will be winners and losers over the months and years to come!
First the challenges – too many to cover off in detail here, but watch our website for more news coming soon. In summary, there have been huge funding cuts over recent years and FE institutions are struggling with cutting their cloth accordingly. This impacts inevitably into the supply chain, hence a number of related businesses are also creaking. As well as cuts, there are regulatory and structural changes, all adding to the burden of how to remain adequately funded both now and in the future. None of these are easy for management teams to address, particularly when historically this area has not been a huge part of the day job. There is however no escape and teams are having to adapt and transform in order to survive.
What about the opportunities? They will be plentiful for those organisations financially well positioned to exploit what’s coming. Taking advantage of technological developments will be a big plus to those ahead of the curve. Location is also a key point – there are simply too many institutions often in close proximity, all doing very similar things in terms of what they offer. The sector is ripe for consolidation and specialisation. As with any sector, putting two bad businesses together doesn’t make a good one, and so there is much to be done both from a funding and management perspective to ensure such sweeping changes in the sector are managed in a way that not only gets the job done in the short term, but crucially that also secures the basis for long term success. This requires engagement and facilitation across the wider stakeholder group throughout the transformation process.
These are key areas where De Novo Advisory can support and add value through challenging and opportunistic times.