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DIUS: The Evidence Base on College Size and Mergers in the Further Education Sector  Research Information

DescriptionThe document, Further Education Colleges Models for Success, published in August 2008, sets out expectations for the future shape of the FE college sector (follow the link below). Here we present the evidence base on college size and mergers to support the consultation document. The evidence base is presented in three chapters: the first chapter introduces the economic theory of market structure and applies this to the FE sector; the second chapter reviews the available literature; and the third chapter presents a quantitative analysis of the relationship between college size and performance. Overall, the theory, evidence and analysis suggest that there may be benefits to larger college size but these benefits are not guaranteed, and the impact of college mergers on choice and competition in FE is ambiguous.
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Reference IDDIUS-RR-08-19
Coverage Country England
Date Released24 September 2008
TypeResearch Report

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