Performance information has featured in the reporting of Scottish Further Education college activity through annual reports and through college development plans to a limited extent in the 10 years since college incorporation (1993). There have been five key performance indicators used since 1990 for all of these functions, defined by the Scottish Office in "Measuring Up" (SOED, 1990). Phase 1 of this study was a review of whether the performance indicators used were valid and reliable, and how well understood the information was within colleges. Phase 2 looked at reasons behind the difficulties and explored approaches to deal with them. Phase 3 described the production of training materials to support changes in practice and Phase 4 discussed the extension of the use of standards to ICT support work. The stronger theoretical model reflecting on the reported experiences of other countries and other sectors was the subject of the literature review. This study investigated the understanding of performance indicators, identified short term changes needed, proposed short term revisions, and outlined issues for further consideration in the longer term development of performance indicators and benchmarks. In addition, a set of standards for quality improvement for the support area of ICT was developed using self evaluation approaches. This study demonstrated that there were problems of reliability and validity in collecting and using performance indicators. These differing interpretations of the performance indicators were evident within institutions, across institutions, and across years. In addition, the performance indicator information was not soundly embedded in a clear theoretical model of quality.

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In Scotland, further education colleges provide 28% of all higher education; this includes over half of part-time undergraduate higher education. This provision has contributed to wider participation in higher education in Scotland by “non traditional” students and to progress towards a mass system of higher education within a learning society. This thesis is a case study of higher education students in a Scottish further education college. It explores the nature of the students’ experience and its relevance to institutional management and higher education policy. Evidence is drawn from the college’s records, from focus groups and from a questionnaire survey of whole year groups (full-time and part-time students) over three successive years. The theoretical focus is upon a new definition of lifelong learning as learning integrated with life, drawn from literature on motive, motivation, participation and retention. The research explores the students’ experiences of combining study with work and family life. The student experience is found to be heterogeneous, complex and distinct from the stereotype of a young full-time university student. Vocational motives predominate and there is evidence of a significant investment of meaning, expectation and purpose in the experience of higher education. The students’ ability to balance and integrate learning with life is a determining factor in the achievement of sustained participation. The quality of support networks both in college and in the students’ work and family lives are found to be more significant than personal or demographic characteristics. The case study contributes to current thinking about the professional role of college senior managers in creating a student-centred institutional culture that responds to the complexity of the students’ experience. A case is made for a review of the current inequity of financial support for full-time and part-time higher education students and of the marginal status of colleges in the development of higher education policy.