Further Education Colleges: UK and Ireland

Further education (FE) colleges are institutions in the United Kingdom and Ireland that provide learning programmes for students over the age of 14 who are not attending secondary school or university. Their curriculum is largely, but not exclusively, vocational. They provide a broad range of basic and continuing education, work-based training, apprenticeships, and higher education. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, colleges not only receive state funding but are also free to generate their own income. Similar elements of FE are offered in technical and FE colleges in Australia; community colleges in the United States and Canada; polytechnics, for example, in Singapore; Berufsschule in Germany; training in industry, as in Japan; or independent training providers.

The term FE was first used in the United Kingdom in ...

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