Degree Apprenticeships Toolkit

We’ve pulled together a checklist of things for university departments to consider when proposing to get involved in degree apprenticeships.  It’s still evolving so please do contact us if you have experience or advice you would like to add.

 

A key difference between conventional courses and degree apprenticeships is that the latter are intended to be employer led, and developed to meet explicit employer needs, with the university effectively acting as suppliers to the employer “customer”.

Nevertheless, as with any new development, it is essential that those universities and HEIs considering developing degree apprenticeship programmes do a full market research and consultation exercise with likely and potential employers. This exercise has the purpose of:

There is also a major engagement effort required with schools and sixth form colleges in order to present what is proposed as a real alternative to post 18 entry to work or mainstream university study.

These programmes open up a whole new “market” for universities and so can’t really be evaluated in the same way as new proposal for a more traditional degree.  The potential to open up wider relationship opportunities than might not immediately arise from “standard” degree offerings need to be taken into account too, for example.

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Degree Apprenticeships Toolkit

We’ve pulled together a checklist of things for university departments to consider when proposing to get involved in degree apprenticeships.  It’s still evolving so please do contact us if you have experience or advice you would like to add.

 

There is an overall lack of familiarity around this approach to study in the UK at present. It is not only employers and universities that need to convince and be convinced; it is also the prospective apprentices/students – and their advisers. Both advisers and students need to have confidence that they are going to get a great education at this level, with excellent employment prospects, and also the opportunities that higher education open up, whatever route is taken.

The student cohort needs to be developed through extensive outreach effort and developed in line with employers’ needs so make sure you get your colleagues in your outreach and recruitment department involved early.  New methods of assessment of the suitability students for this different approach are needed so as to be sure that they will commit themselves to a full programme of study and apprenticeship, and to the employer, for the full period (and for any indemnity period that the employer may insist on after graduation).

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Degree Apprenticeships Toolkit

Case study: Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield has been an early entrant to this new form of higher learning.

Its Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre – AMRC with Boeing (which specialises in the research and development of better manufacturing processes and more efficient factory optimisation) has excellent relationships with businesses – both large multinationals (typified by Boeing) and also local SMEs. It has been delivering research and taught masters degrees since its inception almost two decades ago. For the past three years, the AMRC as part of the University of Sheffield has provided advanced and higher apprentice training, with an annual intake of 205 apprentices. Having identified a gap in manufacturing education at degree level, it has been able to take advantage of the government initiatives and funding around degree apprenticeships to develop its offer.

With a Further Education college partner, locally, the AMRC Training Centre already offered a Foundation degree and higher apprenticeship, but is now recruiting to the first year of its new Bachelors in Manufacturing programmes (BMan), designed to provide degree level apprenticeships in Manufacturing.  The BMan programme will run via day release over three years.  By teaching over 36 weeks a year, on one (long) day a week, and using a flipped classroom/blended learning approach, the curriculum has been designed to  deliver graduates of the standard that employers are expecting. Students will be able to study for a foundation degree in two years, a bachelor’s degree in three years or to master’s level over four years.

The employers say that the key benefits are that as well as being better engaged and loyal,

In addition, they will have access to experts from the university and AMRC to support student projects and the apprentice levy and government support improves the financial viability, even for small companies.

From the students’ perspective, they get paid while they study, ‘earn while they learn’ and apply their academic learning in their own workplace through project work in their companies. The blended learning approach means that they will be able to do much of the learning in their own time, meaning that the time they spend in at university will focus on problem classes, laboratories and tutorials.

The university sees it as a flagship activity with a number of key advantages:

With thanks to Professor Stephen Beck, Head of Multidisciplinary Engineering Education, University of Sheffield.

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Degree Apprenticeships Toolkit

Degree Apprentices must be employed for a minimum of 30 hours per week and must have the right to live and work in the UK.  A Degree Apprentice cannot be self-employed and must be:

An employer must enter into an Apprenticeship Agreement when taking on a Degree Apprentice at the start of the Apprenticeship.  If the student leaves or otherwise loses their job (eg because of misconduct or redundancy) then the employer would normally be held liable for the full course fees.

 A proforma agreement can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/take-on-an-apprentice/apprenticeship-agreement

A national certification system operates for Apprenticeship.  It is currently a legal requirement that this is followed.  This is a simple process and more information can be found at Apprenticeship Certificates in England (ACE).

https://acecerts.co.uk/web/

National Minimum Wage rates

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Degree Apprenticeships Toolkit

It is important to recognise that a successful degree apprenticeship programme has to be founded on a strong and real partnership between an employer (or group of employers) and a provider (or group of providers).  The following are normally essential elements that need to be in place to underpin this, before starting significant development:

There are also some key deliverables or structural demands that have to be addressed as follows:

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Degree Apprenticeships Toolkit

There have been recent reports that graduate recruitment will flatten off and apprenticeship recruitment will increase by 23 per cent. Reports from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) agree. They are currently meeting large employers and finding significant interest in apprenticeships at all levels.

Government guidance states that there are currently around 1,000 degree apprenticeships. Government has made a pledge to increase the number of apprenticeships starts to 3 million by 2020 and to support this aim they are helping higher education providers develop and deliver degree apprenticeships. A degree apprenticeship is a real job where the employer invests in training and the employee receives a first degree during the course of the apprenticeship. Apprentices work for 30 hours a week. Learning fits around that work commitment and requires flexible learning modes like day or block release, distance or blended learning. Overall these programmes provide the opportunity for HEIs to open up to a much wider and newer audience and to introduce and instil HE’s values, attitudes and expertise to a whole cohort that would not otherwise be accessed. It also enables HEIs to develop new relationships and collaborations with organisations and companies.

With the expected introduction of the “Apprenticeship Levy” on all large employers in the near future, there is now a huge financial incentive for employers to engage with these programmes – potentially as alternatives to traditional models of Higher Education, in order to recover their mandatory contribution to the Apprenticeship Levy, with this funding only being eligible to spend on apprenticeship programmes approved under the new standards.

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

Degree Apprenticeships Toolkit

Higher apprenticeships refer to all apprenticeships which include the achievement of academic and vocational qualifications and learning from level 4 up to bachelor’s and master’s degrees at levels 6 and 7 respectively.

All levels can include vocational qualifications and academic qualifications. Degree Apprenticeships are the latest model to be developed as part of higher apprenticeship standards, seeing apprentices achieving a full bachelor’s or master’s degree as a core component of the apprenticeship. Degree apprenticeships combine both higher and vocational education and fully test both the wider occupational competence and academic learning, either:

The figure below (adapted from the Skills Funding Agency fact sheet, June 2015) sets out how higher and degree apprenticeships link together.

Put another way, a Degree Apprenticeship involves an individual being awarded a bachelor’s or master’s degree as part of their Apprenticeship.  An Apprenticeship where an individual achieves a foundation degree as part of their Apprenticeship is a Higher Apprenticeship not a Degree Apprenticeship.  Degree Apprenticeships are not available at level 8.

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

In our Curriculum Development and Teaching Innovation Toolkit you’ll find just a sample of the range of resources available to support curriculum development and innovation in teaching engineering programmes, with links to some of the engineering education research centres.  This is an area which is developing constantly so please do contribute links and resources to keep it up to date by starting a discussion or contacting us directly.

Some toolkit content is available to members only. For best results, make sure you’re logged in.

Contents:

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

In our Curriculum Development and Teaching Innovation Toolkit you’ll find just a sample of the range of resources available to support curriculum development and innovation in teaching engineering programmes, with links to some of the engineering education research centres.  This is an area which is developing constantly so please do contribute links and resources to keep it up to date by starting a discussion or contacting us directly.

 

A distinctive approach to quality is taken in Scotland- the Quality Enhancement Framework (QEF) which provides a means for institutions, academic staff, support staff and students to work together in enhancing the learning experience. The following link provides a useful portal of case studies in Scottish Universities on issues ranging from improving student experience through articulation through to postgraduate learning methods: http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/institutional-plans/case-studies

See also the Accreditation & Quality Assurance Toolkit

 

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

In our Curriculum Development and Teaching Innovation Toolkit you’ll find just a sample of the range of resources available to support curriculum development and innovation in teaching engineering programmes, with links to some of the engineering education research centres.  This is an area which is developing constantly so please do contribute links and resources to keep it up to date by starting a discussion or contacting us directly.

 

 

There’s a range of resources available on the Higher Education Academy’s website developed by the former Engineering Subject Centre.

HELM – Helping Engineers Learn Mathematics – was a major curriculum development project undertaken by a consortium of five English universities – Loughborough, Hull, Reading, Sunderland and Manchester.  Its resources are available here.

The National HE STEM Programme was a three-year initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Councils for England and Wales (HEFCE/HEFCW). It started in August 2009 and completed in July 2012. The Royal Academy of Engineering led the engineering strand of the programme. It supported the National HE STEM Programme through collaborations with HE institutions to encourage new approaches to recruiting students and delivering programmes of study in engineering. It enabled the transfer of good practice across the HE STEM sector, facilitating its wider adoption, and encouraged innovation, supporting those in particular with the potential to achieve long-term impact within the Higher Education sector. There’s a range of case studies available here.

European Journal of Engineering Education (EJEE): the Official Journal of SEFI. Published bi-monthly, the journal examines the economic, cultural, and social factors which influence the education of engineers in different societies and provides a forum in which teachers in engineering schools, institutions and industry can share accounts of good practice and discuss methodology.

 

Grant Campbell and Daniel Belton at the University of Huddersfield have published a useful paper about introducing a new engineering programme in a high cost subject at a time of constrained resources but high demand. The full paper is available here.

 

Degree Apprenticeships Toolkit

In September 2015 the first university-business co-developed Degree Apprenticeship programmes were launched – having been designed and eligible for funding under the government’s new model for apprenticeship training (Apprenticeship Standards), and expected to be resourced via the so called “apprenticeship Levy”. Whilst still at a relatively small scale and early stage, as at March 2016, Apprenticeship Standards are ‘ready for delivery’ at the Degree Apprenticeship level in three discipline areas – two of which are engineering-related. A further seven are awaiting approval, five of which are engineering-related.

Our two Placements Toolkits are the result of the research conducted to address the recommendations of the Perkins Review of Engineering Skills and the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Universe of Engineering Report about engineering student’s placements in companies.

Quality assurance & enhancement

A distinctive approach to quality is taken in Scotland- the Quality Enhancement Framework (QEF) which provides a means for institutions, academic staff, support staff and students to work together in enhancing the learning experience. The following link provides a useful portal of case studies in Scottish Universities on issues ranging from improving student experience through articulation through to postgraduate learning methods: http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/institutional-plans/case-studies

See also the quality assurance toolkit

Any views, thoughts, and opinions expressed herein are solely that of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, policies, or position of the Engineering Professors’ Council or the Toolkit sponsors and supporters.

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