1. National Apprenticeship Service/Skills Funding Agency
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

2. What is the market?
Existing Frameworks
Targets
Opportunities

3. Composition of the Market
Employer
Learner
HEI/Providers

4. Composition of the Market
Employer
Professional Bodies
Learner
HEI/Providers

5. Routes to market

6. Content Existing Frameworks Employers and Learner Participation
Richard Trailblazers
Universities UK
Professional Bodies
Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs)
Summary

7. 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
Higher Apprenticeships Frameworks
Full List of Higher Apprenticeship Frameworks available in 2014:
* denotes still in development
Accounting Advanced Manufacturing Engineering L4 Advertising and Marketing Communications Agriculture Banking Business and Administration Business, Innovation and Growth Care Leadership and Management Commercial Airline Piloting* Construction Technical and Professional Contact Centre Operations Creative and Digital Media: Interactive Media* Employment Related Services Engineering Environmental Technologies* Express Logistics Facilities Management Fashion and Textiles (Technical) Food and Drink Hospitality Management Human Resource Management Insurance IT, Software, Web and Telecoms Professionals Legal Services* Life Sciences Management Power Engineering (Utilities Engineering Operations)* Professional Services: Audit, Accountancy, Tax* Professional Services: Audit, Tax, Management Consultancy Project Management Providing Financial Advice Public Relations Retail Management* Space Engineering* Supply Chain Management Sustainable Building Technologies* Sustainable Resource Management* The Water Industry (Systems Operation and Management / Waste Management Water) The Water Industry (Utilities Network Management) Vehicle Maintenance and Repair* Work based learning for Practitioners

8. Employers and Learners
Targets/Opportunities
Apprenticeship activity by employer size
Apprenticeship activity by sector
Apprenticeship activity by region
Apprenticeship activity by level

9. 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.

10. 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 …Yet something is wrong. Following a decade of slow decline, the numbers of students recruited to part-time courses since 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

11. The power of part-time A powerhouse for skills:
Nearly half a million people in the UK studying part-time at
undergraduate level in
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 are
male
Forty-five percent are parents with dependant children (in
England)
Fewer than one third received financial support from their
employer (in England)

12. The power of part-time UUK found:
Many employers and potential students are not sufficiently
aware of the value of part-time higher education and do not
always fully understand the options, including financial
open to them
2. Information is patchy for potential students trying to find out
about available courses and student finance information
3. There is a lack of visibility of the part-time offer

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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 and 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.

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. Local Enterprise Partnerships
Greater 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.

24. Local Enterprise Partnerships
Hertfordshire 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

25. Local Enterprise Partnerships
Five 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.

26. Summary
Employer
Professional Bodies
Learner
HEI/Providers

27. Summary Employer Sector Themes Funding Professional Bodies LEPs
Economic Drivers
Learner
HEI/Providers