Degree Apprenticeships

An apprenticeship is a job with training. Apprentices are employed and their employer commissions their training from the University. They must be in a job that relates to the training and the aim is they are fully competent at the end of the apprenticeship.

Every apprenticeship aligns to an occupational standard. This is a description of the duties, knowledge skills and behaviours of a competent person in a particular occupation. Occupational standards are developed by groups of employers. Each apprenticeship is assessed by an end point assessment which is a nationally agreed assessment of competence.

The University offers a range of higher and degree level apprenticeships. For some of these the training is provided using a full undergraduate or postgraduate degree, with learning aligned to professional requirements.
Apprentices don’t pay for their training. Their employer pays using their apprenticeship levy or, where the employer does not pay the levy, they can fund training by receiving a transfer of levy from an employer who does or through government co-investment (where the government funds 95% of the training price and the employer funds the remainder).

Apprenticeships at Keele play an important role in supporting the skills and training needs of key employers and the locality. All our apprenticeships are developed in collaboration with employers so that we can ensure that our programmes meet the requirements of the business and work based learners. Our provision has grown in response to demand, starting with an Academic Professional Apprenticeship for our own academic staff and Nursing Associate provision, supporting routes to registered status.

Our apprenticeships are enabling non-traditional learners to develop into rewarding careers. For example, our Nursing Associate apprenticeship provides routes to NMC registered status for loyal care staff who may not have formal qualifications beyond level 2. Our Data Scientist apprenticeship supports progression for this without technical level 3 qualifications, opening up opportunities for women in an often male domain.

We continue to develop our offer in collaboration with employers to offer training to support priorities identified in the locality and, in some specialisms, nationally. Our apprenticeships are closely linked to our local Keele Deals, with skills aligned to plans to support local recovery.

Ofsted has previously held a joint inspection remit with the Office for Students (OfS) for apprenticeship provision. From the 1 April 2021 their remit has been extended to all apprenticeship training, from level 2 (GCSE) to level 7 (postgraduate degrees). In practice, this means that Ofsted will inspect the University’s apprenticeship provision. In the first 24 months of delivery, we will be liable to receive a monitoring visit, with a full inspection due in the following 24 months.   

Ofsted will be interested in talking to senior leaders, employers and apprentices as part of a visit. The may also observe teaching. They are looking at the quality of our apprenticeships as a combination of learning and work and are interested in how provision is led, the quality of our apprenticeship education (its intent, implementation and impact) and safeguarding arrangements.

• A monitoring visit is usually a two day visit to assess progress as a training provider, assess any risks and encourage improvement.
• A short report is published following the monitoring visit where inspectors will make judgements (insufficient progress, reasonable progress, significant progress) against 3 key themes: leadership and management, quality of training/education and safeguarding
• We are currently in scope for a ‘new provider monitoring visit’ which will assess progress as a new apprenticeship provider against reasonable expectations; monitoring visits are also often used as an interim tool to check on progress between full inspections.

Inspectors will not conduct any stakeholder surveys but will want to talk to leaders and key staff, employers and apprentices. They may also observe teaching, depending on the activities being undertaken during the visit period.

As a new provider, we know we will have a monitoring visit in the 12 months from 1 April 2021.