| Summary: | This study explores the relationship between Further Education Colleges and Universities as tertiary providers in England, by interviewing participants from the two sectors to understand their thoughts and views. The relationships are discussed in terms of collaboration or competition within the strains of quasi-market logic, student choice, and institutional identity. With students being increasingly viewed as <i>consumers</i> and the branding of provision appearing to be just as strategic as the delivery models, there is tension between institutions as they compete for attention. However, this is far from a fair fight. With radically different funding structures, political interest and public knowledge, the Further Education sector is the David to Universities' Goliath; however, where exactly the slingshot is coming from has not yet been decided. With Colleges struggling to curate and maintain their identity, themes of victimhood and the force of marketisation are an ever-present struggle for these institutions, often resulting in scathing reviews from their colleagues. The future of this relationship is presented as a fraught and tense one, with Universities confident in their prestige and Colleges trying to educate other people’s <i>children</i>. With the hope of collaboration in the future, the issue, for now, remains for Colleges to try to establish their own identity.
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