Degree Apprenticeships: Bridging Education and Employment

1. Workshop 2 How Degree Apprenticeships are bridging the gap between education and employment.Mandy Crawford-Lee, Director of Policy and Operations, UVAC

2. Mandy Crawford-LeeDirector or Policy and Operationsm.crawfordlee@bolton.ac.ukwww.uvac.ac.uk Degree Apprenticeships – bridging the gap between education and employment OR How Degree Apprenticeships are Addressing the Skills Gap

3. The Conversation • Degree apprenticeships have forced universities to understand what employability actually means • It’s not a placement • It’s not a bolt-on employability module • Module authors need to consult with actual employers about actual skills needs • Flexible delivery models needed • While we can talk about national skills shortages, those manifest differently around the country • Risk vs reward for HEIs • Ofsted vs Bums on seats • Removal of ‘degree’ from L6 standards linked to non-degree level jobs • Overlap with local FE on L4 and L5 delivery where numbers are strong

4. UVAC Our role • 20 year anniversary 2019 – started as an interest group • 94 HEI members from all mission groups • Board – VCs, DVCs, Apprenticeship experts • Advocacy, Research and Dissemination • ~40 webinars per year • UVAC Journal Higher Education, Skills and Work-based Learning • Published quarterly • 22,000+ annual downloads • 3 special issues on Degree Apprenticeships • Quality and social mobility • Equality & Diversity and fair access • Public sector delivery

5. Apprenticeships – Where the HE Sector is • 107 HEIs on the RoATP – vast majority delivering • Numbers delivered ranges from 1000+ to 10s (this is changing rapidly following public sector procurement) • Key Degree Apprenticeships – CMDA, Senior Leader, DTSP, Chartered Surveyor AND increasingly public sector DAs e.g. PCDA, Registered nurse • Limited involvement in non-levy market • HEIs initially heavily engaged in level 4 and 5, new entrants prioritising level 6 and 7 • HEIs see Apprenticeships as ‘positive’ but substantial concern over continual change, hostile environment and potential impact on existing provision • Apprenticeship widely anticipated to become the most prominent form of WBL in HE * Policy Connect Degree Apprenticeship Up to Standard? January 2019

6. Degree Apprenticeships – the Potential Examples of Standards (Developed or being Developed) with reference to the Public Sector • Chartered Manager • Senior Leader • Digital technology and solutions professional • Chartered surveyor • Professional economist • Supply chain leadership professional • Transport planner • Police constable • Social worker • Register nurse • Advanced clinical practitioner • Clinical trials specialist • Chartered town planner • Data Scientist • Environmental manager • Laboratory scientist • Occupational therapist • Operating department practitioner • Paramedic • Physiotherapist • Podiatrist

7. Degree Apprenticeships – theTensionsManagement Apprenticeships • Context – 2,900 starts on the CMDA represent just 1.5% of all starts on Apprenticeship Standards – IfA 15 January 2019 • Asia closed the gap on management skills and Britain must do the same – The Times 28 November 2017 ‘We have an unusually long tail of underperforming businesses. Management skills could account for a quarter of the productivity gap between the UK and the US’. Industrial Strategy, November 2017 • Universities cash in with courses for ‘apprentices’ (re MBA programmes) – The Times 5 May 2018 – critics said the approach would lead to a proliferation of overqualified managers who ‘couldn’t bang a nail in’ rather than the trained workers who are useful to the economy.’ • AoC has serious concerns about the unstoppable rise of management apprenticeships and the consequent lack of opportunities for young people. – FE Week 10 November 2017 • Nobody can explain to me why the public paying £17,100 (of a management MBA Degree Apprenticeship) is good value for money. – Nick Linford, Editor FE Week 2 November 2018 • ‘In some cases we’re seeing levy funding subsidising repackaged graduate schemes and MBAs that just don’t need it.’ – Amanda Spielman, Chief Inspector, Ofsted – 5 December 2018

8. Degree Apprenticeships – theNow & Into the Future • Provision based on: • employer demand • a productivity focus • supporting social mobility – a route into employment vis-à-vis a work-based progression route to the professions, senior management and high level occupations • A continued push upwards by employers – area of fastest/biggest growth • A skills system that enables all providers to deliver the programmes employers and learners demand – with a proper skills and employer focus • Operate to creatively disrupt our understanding of the relationship between HE and work • Challenge assumptions about the presumed differences between academic and professional standards, knowledge and competence, on and off-the-job learning

9. Mapping & Projecting LocalApprenticeship Demand

10. Mapping & Projecting LocalApprenticeship Demand

11. Degree Apprenticeships Questions and views: • How are Degree Apprenticeships making a difference in bringing Higher Education and employment together? • What is the key role that good regional insight can play in helping providers to grow and improve their offer? ‘The Apprenticeship levy is being spent on 'rebadged' graduate schemes'. ‘Apprenticeships at higher levels will not address skills shortages in England if they are done at the expense of getting young people onto programmes.‘ ‘While there is much that is good about Modern (including Higher and Degree) Apprenticeships, they are clearly not a silver bullet for the UK’s skills and productivity issues…’