The University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC) is a not-for-profit organisation set up in 1999 by the higher and further education sector. We provide an independent voice for our members on matters relating to technical and professional higher level learning including higher and degree apprenticeship. Our mission is to champion higher level vocational learning.

UVAC has a membership of approximately 90, including universities, higher education institutions, awarding bodies, service providers and individuals.

We believe in:

• The importance of meeting the higher vocational learning needs of individuals and employers
• The validity of work-based routes into practical, work-applied higher education – with no artificial barriers
• The value of experiential and reflective learning
• The value of work-based and work-related higher education learning

Our activities:

• We work with our members and others to influence the quality and value of higher vocational learning
• We research, provide information and organise events to support our aims
• We support the recognition of prior learning and the national application of credit and transfer between educational institutions
• We work with educational institutions, employers, governments and national agencies to enhance graduate employability and progression

In 2020 UVAC delivered and celebrated the following events and activities:

• UVAC’s 21st anniversary 1999-2020
• Regular meetings with Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, IfATE Chief Executive, DfE, ESFA and OfS
• Membership of ESFA Provider Reference Panel and HE Apprenticeship Provider Reference Group

Advocacy

Increasing support for UVAC positions from policy makers on 5 key areas:

– Inclusion of degrees in Apprenticeships

– Appropriate funding of Higher and Degree Apprenticeship as an all age and all level Apprenticeship programme

– Value of Higher and Degree Apprenticeships in the public sector

– The role of universities in skills and technical education provision

– Vocational and work-based progression to higher education

~ 50 webinar sessions

• 1500 registrants
• 1000+ participants/attendees
• 437 Standalone views
• 5 ‘State of the Nation’ Addresses to 250+ attendees
• 21 Coronavirus Sessions
• 9 Coronavirus Impact FAQs including 2 on Senior Leader Degree Apprenticeship
• 4 Degree Apprenticeship Knowledge Network (DAKN) Sessions:
• 2 PCDA
• 2 Social Worker
• 3 more planned on:
  • HE Academic
  • Integrated Degree Apprenticeships
  • Nursing

• 1 Nursing Web Forum
• 1 Workshop on Funding Band Consultation

• 2 programmes of support programme spring/summer and autumn/winter that covered 7 themes:
• Delivery, quality and programme improvement
• Integrated EPA delivery
• Ofsted
• Operational delivery
• Operations
• Policy and implementation
• SAR, QIP and the EIF

• Revised 3 contract templates for:
• EPA Organisations
• Subcontractor
• Apprenticeship Services
• Development and launch of Centre for Degree Apprenticeships (cda.uvac.ac.uk)
• HESWBL’s 10th year of publication 2011-2020

• Launch of the 1st Ruth Helyer Awards at Emerald Publishing Literati 2020 Awards in remembrance of the journal’s former editor-in-chief and Professor of Work-based Learning at Leeds Trinity University
• Release of 2 special issues of our peer reviewed journal Higher Education, Skills and Work-based
• Learning (HESWBL), with 15 manuscripts on the theme of apprenticeship
• Higher and Degree Apprenticeships: Equality and Diversity Matter guest edited by Gilmar Queiros from the University of Hertfordshire. Articles include:
  • Guest Editorial, Gilmar Queiros featuring Dr Brooke Storer-Church
  • Simon Reichwald, About MyKindaFuture
  • Alistair Catterall, Supporting delivery of diagnostic assessments for apprentices with undiagnosed additional needs
  • Isa Mutlib, How employers are rising to the 20% challenge: increasing the uptake of degree apprentices from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds
  • Caleb Wright, The role of higher education institutions as employers of apprentices
  • Kelly-Mae Saville, Gurkiran Birdi, Sarah Hayes, Helen Higson and Frank Eperjesi, Using strength-based approaches to fulfil academic potential in degree apprenticeships
  • Rowena Senior, Elizabeth Cleaver, Gilmar Queiros, Helen King and Kirstin Barnett, Doctoral Apprenticeships and the “ladder of opportunity”
  • Neil Bentley-Gockmann, Higher education skills and work-based learning article: towards greater inclusion in skills competitions

• Transforming the Perception of Apprenticeships in England: Professional Careers in the Public Sectorguest edited by Professor Darryll Bravenboer from Middlesex University and Mandy Crawford-Lee. Articles include:
  • Guest editorial
  • Stan Lester, Creating conditions for sustainable degree apprenticeships in England
  • Jonathan Garnett, Work-based learning tools to inform the implementation of degree apprenticeships for the public sector in England
  • Finbar Lillis and Darryll Bravenboer, The best practice in work-integrated pedagogy for degree apprenticeships in a post-viral future
  • Alex Leek, Police forces as learning organisations: learning through apprenticeships
  • Marion Taylor and Cariona Flaherty, Nursing associate apprenticeship – a descriptive case study narrative of impact, innovation and quality improvement
  • Iro Konstantinou and Elizabeth Miller, Investigating work-integrated learning and its relevance to skills development in degree apprenticeships
  • Lisa Rowe, Neil Moore and Paul McKie, The reflective practitioner: the challenges of supporting public sector senior leaders as they engage in reflective practice
  • Finbar Lillis and Angelo Varetto, Changing the course of IfATE: healthier higher and degree apprenticeships for regulated healthcare professionals

• Released the following 6 UVAC reports:
• Blueprint for a Financially Sustainable Apprenticeship and Skills System
• Discussion Paper – Realising the Potential of Higher and Degree Apprenticeships in Supporting Social Mobility and the Levelling Up Agenda
• Discussion Paper – Skills: a Post Covid 19 System
• Literature Review – The Value of the Degree in Management and Leadership Apprenticeships
• Perspective: Towards a Sustainable Apprenticeships Funding Model
• Position Paper – UVAC: The Future of Degree Apprenticeships. When and how they should be developed and delivered

• Produced 8 Case Studies for Senior Leader Master’s Degree Apprenticeship delivery on the themes of:
• Perspectives on the Apprenticeship Journey
• Productivity/Business Benefits and Gains
• Public Sector Perspectives and New Delivery Experience
• Public Service Improvements, Benefits and Gains
• Social Mobility and Progression
• Working with an Employer – NHS

• Contributed to the following 3 external reports and research:
• Adrian Anderson, ‘Just More Level 4-7 Apprenticeships, Technical Education and First Degrees’ IN Campaign for Learning (2020) Reforms for a ‘Revolutionary’ Post-16 White Paper
• Stan Lester and Darryll Bravenboer (2020) Sustainable Degree Apprenticeships
• Dadze-Arthur, A., Mörth, A., & Cendon, E. (2020) International Trailblazers: Work-Based Higher Education in Selected Higher Education Institutions in the US, England and Denmark – Results of an International Case Study Research Project, Bonn: Federal Ministry of Education and Research

• Lobbied on the following 6 issues of policy:
• DfE Review of Post 16 Qualifications at Level 3 in England – Second Stage
• External Quality Assurance of Apprenticeship End Point Assessment
• Integrated Degree Apprenticeships
• Regulation of the quality in apprenticeship training
• Student Number Controls and Higher and Degree Apprenticeship
• T levels and Higher Technical Qualifications

• Wrote the following 5 letters to:
• Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid MP, on ‘Review of the Apprenticeship Levy and Reforms – Celebrating Success and Maximising the Benefits of Apprenticeships in England’, 4 February 2020
• Shadow FE and HE Minister, Emma Hardy MP on ‘The Value of Degree Apprenticeships’, 6 March 2020
• Jennifer Coupland, on ‘Higher and Degree Apprenticeships, Covid-19 and Current IfATE Consultations’, 17 April 2020
• Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Apprenticeships and Skills, Gillian Keegan MP, on ‘Ensuring the Continuing Success of Degree Apprenticeships’, 11 May 2020
• Jennifer Coupland, on ‘Integrated Degree Apprenticeships’, on 12 August 2020

• Responded to the following 7 consultations and reports:
• All Party Parliamentary Group on Apprenticeships: Call for Evidence
• EDSK report ‘Runaway Training: A report on the Apprenticeship Levy’
• ESFA Sub-contracting Consultation
• IfATE Consultation on the Senior Leader Degree Apprenticeship
• IfATE Consultation: Funding Band Recommendation Process
• IfATE Review of Degree Apprenticeships
• The Centre for Social Justice Trade Secrets How to reboot apprenticeships and kick-start the economy

• Published the following 5 articles:
• Mandy Crawford-Lee, Apprenticeship, Social Mobility and the Levelling-Up Agenda – The Need for a More Ambitious Approach, in FE News online, 6 November 2020
• Adrian Anderson, Is Ofsted really ready to inspect all apprenticeships? In FE Week, 28 September 2020
• Adrian Anderson, Universities, Higher Technical Qualifications and Apprenticeships, in FE News online, 25 September 2020
• Professor Jane Longmore, ‘Don’t break England’s apprenticeship system with misguided fixes’, in
  Times Higher Education online, 3 March 2020
• Adrian Anderson, The Purpose of Apprenticeships, the Rationale for the Apprenticeship Levy and the Role of Universities in Skills Provision, in FE News online, 23 January 2020