South Thames College has expanded to offer higher education courses in partnership with several universities, enrolling over 800 international fee-paying students. To support this growth of HE in FE, the college invested £76k in print and digital resources for the library and ensured students have access to partner university resources. Moving forward, the document discusses further developing shared library services between FE and HE institutions and the opportunities and challenges of integrating older HE students into the traditional FE environment.

1. Putting the e in HE in FE Tom Roper, Head of Learning Resources, South Thames College

2. South Thames College Three campuses: Wandsworth, Tooting, Merton >7,000 student FTEs LRC/Libraries on three sites c 30 staff (FTE), £660k

3. STC Library and Learning Services Link librarians STCLive Heritage Merger and restructuring New flagship building

4. HE in FE 2009-10 Kingston: business, e-business, early years Greenwich: teacher education South Bank: construction Canterbury Christ Church: teacher education

5. HE in FE 2010-11 Partnership with University of Cumbria 800 fee-paying international students Business at undergraduate and postgraduate level, MBAs

6. Space More computer provision More study space Can young FE students and older HE students coexist peacefully?

7. Resources £76k investment £38k print £38k digital E-resources: shibboleth authenticated

8. Licensing Access to HE partners’ resources Franchised/validated Home/EU or International fee-paying

9. What next? HE in FE: leadership Cf M25/ Kingston University SCONUL? Research into HE in FE student behaviour HE’s difficulty, FE’s opportunity?

10. Shared services: 1 Shared access & resources Shared purchasing Shared management of digital resources Shared catalogues and cataloguing

11. Shared services: 2 Shared LMS and related systems Shared storage and disposal Shared training With acknowledgements to Sally Curry, RIN

12. Further information E-mail: tom.roper@south-thames.ac.uk or tom.roper@gmail.com Twitter: @tomroper, @STCLRC