Further Education at the Frontline of National Resilience

As global instability sharpens, recent events have underscored the fragility of global peace and the importance of conflict preparedness. At the summit between Donald Trump and Keir Starmer at Chequers on the 18th September 2025 in which the USA and UK’s Technology Prosperity Deal was announced, Donald Trump warned that the conflict in Ukraine had the potential to develop “to a Third World War”. Such rhetoric is more than political theatre. It signals that gravity with which leaders are viewing national security, international conflict, and economic resilience.
In this moment of heightened anxiety, a new policy note from the Higher Education Policy Institute, The Wartime University: The Role of Higher Education in Civil Readiness, argues that post-compulsory educational institutions must be considered as foundational components of any national security strategy. For FE leaders and practitioners, this argument has immediate implications.

Higher Education as Civil Infrastructure

The policy note makes a simple claim. Any international conflict will be waged on a whole-society level, and such educational institutions form an integral part of the country’s civil infrastructure.

First, there is the scale and diversity of provision. The UK’s higher education landscape extends well beyond its research universities. It includes post-92 universities, specialist colleges, and FE providers with degree-level, apprenticeship, and professional qualification programmes. Collectively, these span skills critical to defence, healthcare, infrastructure, logistics, digital, emergency response, and more.

Second, there is the embeddedness and civic reach of higher education institutions. They are deeply rooted in local communities. They have physical infrastructure, long-standing relationships with employers, local governments, and civic bodies, and reach into populations often outside the orbit or narrowly private or public sector bodies.

Finally, there is the capacity for continuity and adaptation. In crises, whether pandemics, wars, or natural disasters, the continuity of learning, rapid retraining, flexible delivery, and local coordination of services become essential. Higher education, including FE-based HE, is a key part of this capacity.

The note argues that while the UK already has considerable strengths across all three dimensions, what is missing is systematic recognition and formal integration of higher education into civil readiness and contingency planning.

The Central Role of Further Education

For further education providers, these arguments are especially central. FE providers carry many of the unique capabilities on which the nation will rely if crisis sharpens.

One such area is skills and workforce readiness. FE colleges deliver much of the practical technical and professional training for sectors critical in crisis: healthcare support, construction, logistics, digital and cyber security, and emergency response. They are also closely connected with local employers and industries, meaning their training pathways can be rapidly aligned to pressing workforce needs.

Another is flexible and localised delivery. FE institutions are used to engaging with adult learners, providing blended and online models, and delivering part-time or modular provision in ways that meet people where they are. This flexibility makes them well-placed to scale up contingency learning when disruption strikes.

Equally important is community infrastructure and trust. Colleges are among the most locally trusted institutions. Their physical spaces, staff networks, and civic partnerships mean they can act as natural hubs for coordinating responses during disruption, hosting public services, retraining workers for emergency roles, and supporting local recovery efforts.

Finally, there is continuity of learning. When disruption hits, whether extreme weather, pandemic, or displacement, FE institutions already know how to innovate to maintain education, support affected learners, and adapt delivery models. This experience places them at the heart of educational resilience.

Why Now

The ongoing discussion of the UK’s conflict readiness amongst our political leaders reflects the reality that conflict escalation is becoming part of political discourse and public concern. That raises expectations for resilience, readiness, and planning.

Meanwhile, the UK is living through multiple kinds of crises simultaneously: geopolitical instability, climate extremes, and economic uncertainty. These stressors are not isolated, and institutions will be called upon in unplanned ways. FE providers are already stretched by funding, regulatory, and staffing pressures. However, these challenges will increasingly intersect with national security and continuity demands.

For colleges, preparing is not optional: it is inevitable.

What needs to change

Turning this potential into practical capability requires action on several fronts. First, FE providers delivering higher education must be explicitly recognised in national strategies for civil readiness, crisis planning, and security. They are not adjuncts to the system but essential assets within it.

Second, government needs to undertake proper coordination and mapping of FE provision, identifying where strengths and gaps lie across skills, infrastructure, digital reach, and physical space. This would allow colleges to be fully integrated into emergency response and civil continuity planning rather than left operating in isolation.

Third, funding and regulation must be designed with flexibility in mind. Colleges need the ability to pivot quickly, whether scaling emergency delivery, supporting displaced learners, or maintaining continuity of learning, without being slowed down by rigid rules and bureaucratic barriers.

Finally, investment is needed in resilience capacity itself. That means digital infrastructure robust enough to withstand disruption, staff training geared towards emergency response, and civic partnerships that enable colleges to act decisively and effectively when crises arise.

Conclusion

Further education providers are indispensable to the UK’s resilience. Their strengths in practical skills training, community reach, flexible delivery, and trusted civic presence make them central pillars of civil preparedness.

In a period of mounting global instability, colleges are not peripheral. They are on the frontline of readiness by shaping the workforce, sustaining communities, and keeping learning alive when disruption comes.

For government, recognising and resourcing FE as part of national resilience is no longer optional. For college leaders, the call is to build on existing strengths, deepen civic partnerships, and be ready to step into this role with confidence.

By Gary F. Fisher, Academic Developer in Online Education at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine