The Future of Higher Apprenticeships in England – Implications and
Opportunities for Higher Education
Delivery of Existing Higher Apprenticeships, Targets and
Opportunities for HEIs and Providers
Matthew Fletcher
National Apprenticeship Service/Skills Funding Agency
4th April 2014
What is the market?
• Existing Frameworks
• Targets
• Opportunities
Composition of the Market
Employer
Learner HEI/Providers
Composition of the Market
Employer
Learner
HEI/Providers
Professional Bodies
Routes to market
Content
• Existing Frameworks
• Employers and Learner Participation
• Richard Trailblazers
• Universities UK
• Professional Bodies
• Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)
• Summary
Existing Frameworks
•Discrete by sector- Financial/Technical Specialist
•Generic to business- Generic Business Support
•Developed as progression to existing frameworks
•Developed through specific initiatives – Higher Apprenticeship Fund
•Resource intensive
•Entry to the market
Employers and Learners
Targets/Opportunities
•Apprenticeship activity by employer size
•Apprenticeship activity by sector
•Apprenticeship activity by region
•Apprenticeship activity by level
Richard Trailblazers
Phase 1 sectors
•Aerospace; Automotive; Digital Industries; Electrotechnical; Energy and Utilities; Financial Services; Food and Drink Manufacturing; Life Science & Industrial Sciences.
Phase 2 sectors
•‘A to T’ including Accountancy, Law and Nursing
•Assigning a level should come at the end of the development process when the draft standard is submitted.
Universities UK
‘Part-time and mature students are a great success story for UK higher
education…We are talking about huge numbers- nearly half a million
undergraduate students studying part-time in the UK in 2011-12…Yet
something is wrong. Following a decade of slow decline, the numbers of
students recruited to part-time courses since 2010-11 in England fell by
40% for undergraduate courses over two years: equivalent to 105,000
fewer students.’
Professor Sir Eric Thomas ,The power of part-time : Review of part-time and
mature higher education, Universities UK
The power of part-time
A powerhouse for skills:•Nearly half a million people in the UK studying part-time at undergraduate level in 2011-12•Vast majority – nine out of ten- aged between 21 and 65•Most studying vocational courses and in continuous full-time employment.•Sixty-two percent are female and thirty-eight percent aremale•Forty-five percent are parents with dependant children (inEngland)•Fewer than one third received financial support from their employer (in England)
The power of part-time
UUK found:
1.Many employers and potential students are not sufficientlyaware of the value of part-time higher education and do notalways fully understand the options, including financial open to them
2. Information is patchy for potential students trying to find outabout available courses and student finance information
3. There is a lack of visibility of the part-time offer
The power of part-time
UUK found (cont’d):
4. Opportunities exist for higher education providers to do more to attract and support part-time students, including through the development of more flexible learning approaches.
5. Part-time study is highly vocational, yet there are opportunities for more employer-focused provision.
6. There are opportunities for part-time study to be supported through Local Enterprise Partnerships in England
The power of part-time
R3. Universities and colleges should take bold steps to meet the needs of potential part-time students and improve the part-time experience.
-Consider the student life cycle, methods of flexible learning including on-line delivery.
-Consider how partnerships between higher education institutions and further education colleges can sustain and promote opportunities to study part-time.
The power of part-time
Higher education providers with the largest number of UK-domiciled part-time undergraduate students in absolute terms after the Open University:•Teeside University•Birkbeck, University of London•Coventry University•University of Central Lancashire•Staffordshire University•London South Bank University•The University of Hull•Anglia Ruskin University•Edge Hill University
The power of part-time
What are they studying?
•Strong bias towards vocational subjects. Most popular are subjects allied to medicine; business and administration; and education.
•The majority of part-time students are aiming for professional qualifications and higher education certificates and credits.
The power of part-time
Trends•Decline in female students exacerbated the longer-term drop in student numbers.•Female students over-represented in sectors under particular pressure (education, health, public administration)•Biggest fall in entrants is among those in their thirties.•National decrease in entrants between 2011-12 and 2012-13 felt more strongly in the north of England than the south ranging from -59% in the North East to -12% in the East of England. Similar to the decrease in the full-time applications.•Reasons for regional changes important as part-time students not as mobile as full-time students.
The power of part-time
R4. Employer-focused part-time higher education which meets the needs of the local economy should be boosted.-..work in partnership with employers to develop more flexible and innovative approaches to meeting the needs of part-time students…need to step up longer-term partnership arrangements with employers, while at the same time employers need to get better at articulating skills needs.-UUK will work with UKCES to highlight innovative ways of working with employers..-UUK urges its members to work with Local Enterprise Partnerships to raise awareness and access to part-time higher education study, supporting the local growth and skills agenda
The power of part-time
R4. Employer-focused part-time higher education which meets the needs of the local economy should be boosted.
•The University of Warwick – SEFDEY
•Durham University – KPMG/ICAEW
•CBI – Tomorrow’s growth: New routes to higher skills
Professional Bodies
• Highly relevant and an integral partner to Apprenticeship development and delivery
• Profile significantly raised through Richard Review• Apprenticeships as a route to professional qualification• PARN survey made up of 37 professional bodies• Almost 3 million individual professionals represented by the
survey respondents• PARN estimates that there are approximately 13.3 million
professionals in the UK• Higher Apprenticeships and Professional Bodies A report for the National
Apprenticeship Service by Christina Williams & William Hanson 2011
Professional Associations Research Network
Professional Bodies
Survey findings:•49% of respondents were aware of Apprenticeships in their sector•Only 27% of respondents have members qualified through this route•70% thought a Higher Apprenticeship would be an appropriate way to gain full professional status in their sector•73% indicated their interest in Higher Apprenticeships (38% being very interested)•70% interested in embedding Higher Apprenticeships in routes to entry for their profession
Local Enterprise
Partnerships• Partnerships between businesses and local authorities to drive economic growth and create jobs.
• The 39 LEPs each develop a:
• Local Growth Plan
• Skills Strategy
• Apprenticeship Action Plan
Local Enterprise
PartnershipsGreater Birmingham and Solihull LEP•Developed a three pronged local development strategy based around the top level objectives:•Business, People and Place•Selected five priority growth sectors to set the pace and build capacity to grow employment and the economy.•Advanced Manufacturing and Engineering•ICT•Cultural Buzz•Life Sciences•Environmental Technologies•A further six sectors have been identified where there is a continuing skills demand.
Local Enterprise
PartnershipsHertfordshire LEP
•Priority 1 - Maintaining our global excellence in science and technology
•Priority 2 - Harnessing our relationships with London(and elsewhere)
•Priority 3 - Re-invigorating our places for the 21st Century
Local Enterprise
PartnershipsFive key domains of activity•satellites and commercial applications of space;• life sciences, genomics and synthetic biology;• regenerative medicine ;• agri-science; and• the big data revolution and energy-efficient computing. Four growth sectors• film and media;• sport, leisure and cultural activities, and tourism more generally;• financial and business services; and• high-end logistics.
Summary
Employer
Learner
HEI/Providers
Professional Bodies
SummaryEmployer
Learner
Professional Bodies
HEI/Providers
LEPs
Economic Drivers
Sector Themes
Funding
