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But the QAA has found proportionately more departments in further education to be lacking compared to those in universities

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But the QAA has found proportionately more departments in further education to be lacking compared to those in universities.There have been a series of attempts over the years to launch a two-year sub-degree as a stepping stone to an honours degree. Most have foundered and the HND suffers from not being a degree.What evidence is there that the new qualification will be any more successful? Critics wonder at whom the new degree is aimed - people who currently do HNDs, who fail A-levels or achieve only one A-level or do badly at A- levels? And will employers give it the thumbs up?"It needs to contain the best of what's currently available to make it worthwhile," says Judith Norrington, of the Association of Colleges. "Unless employers think it's worthwhile, it won't be taken up."Tom Wilson, the head of the universities department at the lecturers' union NATFHE (the National Association of Teachaers in Higher and Further Education), is in favour of foundation degrees but worries they will be provided on the cheap. The average cost of education in further education is lower than in higher education. "These students need more unit funding, not less, because they need special help, which your conventional degree student does not," he says. "There's a big danger the Government may be going to have 50 per cent expansion on the cheap."Professor Ivor Crewe, the Vice-chancellor of Essex University and chairman of the working group which is designing the foundation degree, says it will not be aimed at any one narrowly defined group. "It's almost certainly not going to be confined to part-time students," he explains.

"It's not going to be confined to school or college leavers or mature students. It will be distinctive because it will offer vocationally relevant programmes that will lead to employment. In some cases, it will be for people already in employment, who want to make further progress."According to Professor Crewe, the design group will not be prescriptive about entry qualifications for the new courses. That means that applicants will be able to sign up without formal qualifications and will, for example, be able to gain accreditation for skills learnt at work.The group is acutely aware of the problem of demand, he adds.

"The foundation degree will have to be made sufficiently distinctive from the honours degree, and sufficiently attractive to prospective students to bring in the kind of numbers the Government wants," he says. And that means everything from the marketing of courses to the way they're funded.Neither is Professor Crewe fazed by concern that the new degrees will be higher education on the cheap, provided essentially by further education colleges which don't come with a quality seal of approval. First, he says that not all the new foundation degrees will be taught in further education colleges.Anyway, he adds: "The vast majority of higher education courses in further education have been found perfectly satisfactory by the QAA."The key to whether the new degrees take off could be funding. At present there is a question mark over whether young people who avoid three-year degrees will be prepared to pay tuition fees on the scale charged in higher education This autumn, charges for degree courses will be £1,050. Is it realistic to expect foundation degree candidates - the Government thinks they will be bright, working-class young people - to forfeit jobs in today's buoyant economy for two years of hard slog and financial pain?Some experts think not. One is on the committee deciding the shape of the new degree, Professor David Robertson, of Liverpool John Moores University. In fact, Professor Robertson is chairing the sub-group which is doing the work.