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Each further education college that runs higher education courses as part of a consortium will be held responsible for the quality of courses despite funding being channelled through a higher education institution.

That is the recommendation of a code of practice for consortia sent out for consultation last week by the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

In a franchise, the university franchiser is responsible for quality in the colleges to which it sends students. In a consortium, however, the funding council stated that it sees the arrangement as a partnership of peers in which each institution retains responsibility for its students.