Economics of Funding eTracker
In the wake of Government spending cuts, FE Colleges are being forced to take tough decisions to balance the books. While an investment in a product such as eTracker may seem like an unnecessary luxury, an electronic method of tracking students’ progress remains an essential ingredient to a successful Ofsted inspection, and upon further scrutiny, eTracker can save colleges money.
At VLE Support, we have identified three key areas whereby eTracker can have a positive economic effect on a college or educational institution:
1) Student Retention – eTracker closely tracks student performance and quickly identifies ‘at-risk’ students, enabling colleges to offer additional support to students at risk of withdrawing from their course.
Our research (below) shows that if eTracker can prevent just six students from leaving, the product will pay for itself. eTracker saves teachers time, with more efficient marking and subject review process, and therefore teachers are able to spend more time planning and preparing their teaching, as well as having more time to offer pastoral support to students. eTracker leads to a better student experience and makes students more likely to successfully complete their courses.
2) Student Recruitment – eTracker is popular among students as it helps them to engage more easily with their progress and monitor their achievement. Our new Parent Portal module will surely prove popular with parents and carers who are able to monitor their son/daughter’s attendance, punctuality and achievement. A college with eTracker would be more likely to fill all its places as students and parents recommend to others the positive experience they have had.
3) Administrative costs – eTracker is much more efficient than paper-based systems and will save colleges huge amounts of paper and printing costs, and associated staff costs. Our Pre-loaded course database means that unit and criteria details are instantly available through eTracker, saving hours of administrative workload.
Get in touch with VLE Support today to organise a full demonstration of eTracker:
Email: info@vlesupport.co.uk
Telephone: 01689 885 068
(Text by Jon Openshaw 30th June 2011)
Supporting evidence
The figures below are based on published data relating to the Finance Records of 358 colleges in 2008-2009 (Skills Funding Agency).
The Funding Formulae used by the Young People's Funding Agency * incorporates the use of the Provider Factor where the success rate for a provider has a significant impact on the funding that is received.As a consequence, all other things remaining equal, "Every 2% increase in an institution's Success Rate would equate to a 1% increase in funding." ** The following figures show that, for an average sized college, an addition of 6 more successful learners will cover the cost of eTracker for a medium sized college.
Average Income per college (based on 358 colleges) - £9,857,378
1 percent increase in funding - £98,574
Average Number of 16-18 Learners (SLN) - 2,661 Average Income per 16-18 Learner - £3,705 2% of Average Number of Learners - 53 Increase in Income from increase in Success of 2% - £98,574 Average Cost of eTracker (for medium sized college) - £11,000 No of Additional Successful Learners to Pay for eTracker - 6
* See "A Guide to Funding Foundation Learning - YPLA (Jan 2011) - Annex A"
** "YPLA - 2008/09 School Sixth Form Data – Frequently Asked Questions"
Tim Lyth
VLE Support Limited
Friday, 18 March 2011
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