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Empowering FE: enhancing skills with technology

From January 2025, AoC and Ufi VocTech Trust have entered a multi-year partnership working together to increase the use of vocational technology (VocTech) in further education (FE) colleges to provide greater access to learning and skills and improve outcomes for post-16 vocational students. We aim to build capacity and confidence to use VocTech across FE colleges by embedding behaviours and strategies that can support innovation in how tech is used to enhance teaching, learning and business support with a clear focus on improving student outcomes.

Digital Baseline

During the first phase of the strategic partnership, AoC has conducted research with 220 FE professionals and in-depth interviews, to capture a baseline of the current use of digital technologies across college teaching, learning and business support teams.

This has provided an opportunity to understand what the challenges are in VocTech adoption in colleges, and understand ways that colleges are addressing these.

Further information can be found below. including the actions AoC and Ufi are taking to support these recommendations.

Read the report: Digital baseline: exploring the use of technology in FE

Supporting digital transformation and reducing digital inequalities

Since the Digital Baseline report was published, we have been implementing some of the recommendations. Find out below the support available through this partnership to support digital transformation in FE.

Digital transformation and AI: a roadmap for the FE sector

The benefits of digital transformation for students and apprentices, colleges and the wider economy are clear and far-reaching. This new sector-led roadmap sets out how colleges can use digital and AI to improve outcomes for students, apprentices and staff, and build a more responsive skills system, closer aligned to employer needs and the realities of a modern economy.

Download the roadmap

Digital Insight Hubs

The Digital Insight Hub pilot programme aims to help the sector accelerate digital adoption, drive innovation and address digital inequality. The three pilot Digital Insight Hubs will host events to share their digital transformation journey and provide mentoring to support other colleges.

Find out more about Digital Insight Hubs

Digital transformation in FE: community of practice

As part of this strategic partnership, AoC is working with Jisc to support a community of practice focused on digital transformation in further education.

The community brings together FE professionals to connect, share learning and explore approaches to digital, data and AI‑enabled transformation. It aligns with AoC Digital Transformation and AI Roadmap, and Jisc’s Digital Elevation Tool and is open to all colleges and FE professionals, whatever their starting point.

Alongside the wider community, AoC and Jisc will host informal regional online events each term for colleges in the North, Midlands and South. These discussion‑led sessions will be aimed at colleges in the "Foundation" or "Transform" stages of digital maturity and will focus on sharing challenges, practical approaches and peer learning.

Get involved: if you were previously part of Jisc’s Digital Elevation Network, you’re already included and don’t need to sign up again. New members can register to join the community and receive updates about upcoming events.

Blogs

Below are blogs written by college leaders that have been published as part of the Ufi strategic partnership.

Why colleges must come together to shape the future of AI in further education

Why even techno-dinosaurs need to get on board with AI

Digital Transformation Roadmap: travelling in the right direction

Partnership introduction video

The video below is a discussion between Ufi, AoC and Jisc. It was recorded in March 2025 to introduce the partnership.

If you have any questions about the project, please contact Projects@aoc.co.uk.