Events | UVAC

UVAC EVENTS

UVAC 26th Annual General Meeting

DATE: Thursday 2nd April 2026 | 13:15 - 13:30

TOPIC: UVAC 26th AGM

CONTENT:

UVAC Full Member staff (i.e. faculty at institutions with Degree Awarding Powers) are invited to join the UVAC Chair and Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting. Agenda 1. Approval of minutes from previous AGM – 10th April 2025 2. Report and Financial Statements To receive and consider the financial statements for the year ended 31st July 2025 and the report of the Board of Directors. 3. Accountants To appoint Horsfield & Smith as UVAC accountants until the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting, and to authorise the Directors to set the level of the accountant’s fees. 4. Appointment of Board of Directors In accordance with the Company Memorandum and Articles of Association, one-third of the Directors will retire at each Annual General Meeting and can then stand for re-election. 5.Any other Business To consider any matters raised at the meeting. Join via Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/37697566931332?p=lGut0iITTY7Jr9cWel Meeting ID: 376 975 669 313 32 Passcode: JD2dL9pM

UVAC Higher Education Tripartite Professionals Network

DATE: Tuesday 14th April 2026 | 14:00 - 16:00

TOPIC: Higher Education Tripartite Professionals Network

CONTENT:

This UVAC knowledge network seeks to support everyone involved in representing Universities in the apprenticeship tripartite relationship, and those who lead and support this work. If you undertake Progress Review Meetings, provide coaching/mentoring/tutoring to apprentices, or monitor individual learners’ compliance with funding rules, or lead or manage people who do this, then this network aims to support you and develop this professional community of practice. Login Required for Registration

Effective Module Design - LLE and Apprenticeships- Practitioner CPD

DATE: Wednesday 15th April 2026 | 9:30 - 11:00

TOPIC: Effective Module Design - LLE and Apprenticeships

CONTENT:

This session explores how to identify and design modules with high impact and value to learners and employers, eligible for funding through the Lifelong Learning Entitlement and the Apprenticeship Growth and Skills Levy, and as part of a commercial offer. This practical session will provide guidance and a framework for taking the first or early steps into these new opportunities.

UVAC login required for registration.

Ofsted - New Framework - 3 Months On

DATE: Thursday 16th April 2026 | 9:30 - 11:30

TOPIC: Ofsted - New Framework - 3 Months On

CONTENT:

This session, run with Ofsted, will update members on progress with implementing the new Framework. This session will focus on Inclusion as a core topic but incl a section for Q and A with Ofsted, and where possible latest inspection feedback from member organisations. UVAC login required for registration.

UVAC State of the Nation

DATE: Friday 17th April 2026 | 12:00 - 13:15

TOPIC: Member Update

CONTENT:

Skills minister Jacqui Smith had already signalled that apprenticeships which ‘resemble continuing professional development rather than discrete occupations’ may no longer be regarded as appropriate for public funding. The now-confirmed decision removes programmes that have become vital progression routes into management roles for learners of all ages, including ambitious school and college leavers. The Minister's position and the government’s rationale appear to be one of financial reprioritisation – targeting more money at front-door apprenticeships for young people at the lowest levels and reducing investment in higher-level programmes. We will be exploring the implications and taking a look at how HERA our data dashboard can assist in planning and strategising. Chris Lee from our member RCU who developed HERA will be walking through the datasets and practical applications available to you. We will also be presenting to you our plans for delivering practical support and resources as we navigate this stage of Government policy and intent. Login is required for registration

Targeting LLE for Individuals

DATE: Tuesday 21st April 2026 | 13:30 - 15:00

TOPIC: Targeting LLE for Individuals

CONTENT:

This session is for curriculum leads, business development teams, strategy teams and all staff involved in taking opportunities forward for their department and organisation. The session explores the new Lifelong Learning Entitlement and how this funding flexibility can be developed with a suite of available units and modules in support. This practical session will explore the eligibility criteria and quality frameworks, consider possible markets, and offer a framework for prioritising areas for early development.

UVAC login required for registration.

SEMINAR AND FOCUS GROUP on LEARNING AT WORK for business, personal and professional development

DATE: Tuesday 21st April 2026 | 13:00 - 16:00

TOPIC: Custom and negotiated modules and programmes

CONTENT:

A seminar and discussion on custom and negotiated modules and programmes

Teams Online

Brief:

Negotiated modules provide an opportunity for individuals to learn through their work, investigate areas of interest, and engage in bespoke continuing development. They offer businesses and organisations an opportunity to build accredited learning around their needs – including in direct response to practical issues and opportunities.

Modules can be ‘micro-credentials’ in their own right; be bundled together to form short programmes; form part of a professional degree or apprenticeship; be part of a themed executive/CPD programme; or form the core of a fully negotiated programme.

The seminar will be led by Dr Stan Lester, UVAC associate, consultant and researcher with over 30 years’ exceptional experience in work-based learning research and systems design. Stan will be producing a report looking at the many shades of work-based learning delivered by higher education.

Link HERE to a concept poster to assist thinking and discussion.

Outline:

Learning at Work – an introduction to principles and applications
Discussion – concepts, practices and applications
How UVAC can support the Learning at Work approach
Discussion – needs and wants.

This seminar will be of interest to academics, programme leaders and managers who are interested in developing or enhancing negotiated and bespoke work-based learning provision. Do disseminate and encourage colleagues to attend.

To confirm interest in attending, first email Dr Mandy Crawford-Lee [email protected]

Working with Employers to establish Modular Delivery

DATE: Wednesday 29th April 2026 | 9:30 - 11:00

TOPIC: Working with Employers to establish Modular Delivery

CONTENT:

This session is for curriculum leads, business development teams, strategy teams and apprenticeship staff involved in taking the Growth & Skills Levy forward. This practical session will explore how the Levy modules work as part of a package for employers, but also how the lessons here can be used in sectors not yet eligible for Levy funding alongside other module opportunities. We will outline a blueprint for employer consultation and a framework for identifying priorities and quick wins as part of a planned approach to module implementation.

UVAC login required for registration.

Work-based Learning: Forging pathways between theory and practice in higher education

DATE: Thursday 30th April 2026 | 9:30 - 16:30

TOPIC: Work-based learning: forging pathways between theory and practice in higher education - FOR RESEARCHERS AND DOCTORAL STUDENTS

CONTENT:

This symposium, planned and hosted jointly by UVAC and The Open University, will take place in Milton Keynes on 30th April 2026. Taking the blending of theory and practice as our starting point, we invite perspectives on all aspects of work-based learning from the doctoral and early career researcher community. We aim to provide a safe and inclusive space for debate and dialogue in this exciting field, alongside a potential opportunity to develop your paper for publication through the conference hosts. We invite you to register interest HERE. See the programme HERE. Work-based learning, learning in the workplace, and ideas on lifelong learning are currently enjoying a renaissance. Advances in teaching, programme design and stakeholder involvement have generated significant public, organisational, and academic interest. This has been driven in part by a past decade that has seen substantial shifts in our working lives, and in how the organisations we inhabit choose to operate. Fresh perspectives and regenerated educational models are proving vital in unsettled global environments where post-pandemic technological and socio-economic accelerants jostle with political uncertainties and fragmented labour markets. Whilst educational and skills policies continue to promote personal development and growth, the search for skilled workers and national renewal are pushing the dial in favour of shifts to new and enhanced forms of learning and engagement around what employers and particular sectors need. This might be through new programmes of study such as degree apprenticeships, professional training or new forms of work experience and internship. Higher education partners are also embracing pedagogical initiatives: whether through newer digital delivery modes; wrestling with the opportunities and upheavals wrought by technological innovation; or enhanced interpretations of very old forms of learning, side by side with expert practitioners in the workplace. A variety of options are offered to learners – whether as work-based learning (defined here as those in work going into higher education environments), work-informed learning (defined as those in higher education going into work - such as via placement schemes or work-experience schemes), but also internships and job-shadowing schemes. Amidst all these plans for change and innovation, and given the sheer scale of transformation possible, there is a pivotal role for academic inquiry and thoughtful scholarship. Work-based learning, by necessity, is a trans-disciplinary affair, where specific individual contexts for learning carry as much weight as classroom-based study and individual reflection. Whatever the discipline, problems and challenges of transmitting learning and developing competencies are just as relevant – this holds true from nursing to management, in policing and law, and in finance and engineering. What may have relevance in one sector (whether public or private) could offer new insights and new ways of working across typically unconnected sectors. Organisations ask not only what is worth learning today, but what we should be learning tomorrow. Policy makers ask how we should be learning and how higher education should be supporting their endeavours. It is at this critical moment that we look to our new generation of scholars, the growing community of PhD and early career researchers who are finding and charting our pathways forward, if not through a green-field site, then one that has undergone a period of under-theorisation and neglect until recently. The time has now come for the exploration and development of new ideas, but also the dusting off and re-tooling of stalwart concepts and applying them afresh to new workplace situations and modes of teaching, learning and assessment. This one-day event will take place on Thursday, 30 April 2026 at the Walton Hall campus of The Open University in Milton Keynes.

UVAC NHSE: Quality in Nursing Apprenticeships Network

DATE: Tuesday 5th May 2026 | 14:00 - 16:00

TOPIC: Quality in Nursing Apprenticeships Network

CONTENT:

Following on from previous collaborative networks between UVAC and NHSE 2026 dates are now live for registration on-line. These will build on previous discussions to support and facilitate discussion across the sector around sharing of good practice, challenges and enhancements/developments. These will include live guest speakers and alignment to Ofsted, OfS and NMC and other regulatory bodies and requirements. Please note that this is a sequence of Networks so please sign up to all dates. UVAC login required for registration

Targeting LLE for Individuals

DATE: Thursday 7th May 2026 | 9:30 - 11:00

TOPIC: Targeting LLE for Individuals

CONTENT:

Apprenticeship Funding Rules 2026/2027

DATE: Tuesday 12th May 2026 | 9:30 - 11:30

TOPIC: Apprenticeship Funding Rules 2026/2027

CONTENT:

This session will explore the practical implications of the new 20262027 Funding Rules. UVAC login required for registration.

EFFECTIVE MODULE DESIGN - LLE AND APPRENTICESHIPS- PRACTITIONER CPD

DATE: Thursday 14th May 2026 | 9:30 - 11:00

TOPIC: Effective Module Design - LLE and Apprenticeships

CONTENT:

UVAC CMDA Network

DATE: Tuesday 19th May 2026 | 10:00 - 12:00

TOPIC: Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship Network

CONTENT:

The CMDA DAKN currently is made up of UVAC members/practitioners from 19 different Higher Education Institutions who are passionate about the quality, development, and impact of the CMDA for learners, employers, and wider skills agenda. The CMDA continues to be supported and developed by UVAC members at both the Open University, Nottingham Trent University and University of Central Lancashire and facilitated by the support of a UVAC Associate. More recent work has seen the knowledge network undertake sharing of best practice, research and currently working on the collation of impact of the CMDA across the Institutions in support of the review of the CMDA occupational standard. UVAC login required for registration

UVAC Social Work Network

DATE: Tuesday 19th May 2026 | 13:30 - 15:30

TOPIC: UVAC Social Work Network

CONTENT:

Over 25/26 the Social Work apprenticeship knowledge network will carry on from the work and discussions previously undertaken. This will provide a collaborative forum for UVAC members to explore different themes and topics during 2026 The agenda will be provided near the network dates. UVAC login required for registration

Working with Employers to establish Modular Delivery

DATE: Wednesday 27th May 2026 | 9:30 - 11:00

TOPIC: Working with Employers to establish Modular Delivery

CONTENT:

UVAC Quality Network

DATE: Tuesday 2nd June 2026 | 10:00 - 12:00

TOPIC: UVAC Quality Network

CONTENT:

The quality network has more recently been developed to broaden the focus of the network supported by UVAC members, practitioners, and external stakeholders. The network provides a facilitated platform and safe space to share good practice, discuss and explore the challenges and barriers to quality assurance of apprenticeship provision across the current apprenticeship and skills landscape. The network will focus on the apprenticeship journey and what this involves and development of a network blueprint. Our Quality network is support by other experienced HE consultants, external Stakeholders, partners and UVAC members. UVAC login required for registration

UVAC NHSE: Quality in Allied Health Apprenticeship Network

DATE: Tuesday 9th June 2026 | 13:00 - 15:00

TOPIC: Quality in Allied Health Apprenticeship Network

CONTENT:

Following on from previous collaborative networks between UVAC and NHSE 2026 dates are now live for registration on-line. These will build on previous discussions to support and facilitate discussion across the sector around sharing of good practice, challenges and enhancements/developments. These networks will include live guest speakers and alignment to HCPC, Ofsted, OfS and other regulatory bodies and requirements. Please note this is a sequence of Networks, therefore, please register for each date. UVAC login required for registration

Effective Module Design - LLE and Apprenticeships- Practitioner CPD

DATE: Tuesday 16th June 2026 | 9:30 - 11:00

TOPIC: Effective Module Design - LLE and Apprenticeships

CONTENT:

Ofsted - New Framework - 6 Months On

DATE: Thursday 23rd July 2026 | 9:30 - 11:30

TOPIC: Ofsted - New Framework - 6 Months On

CONTENT:

This session, run with Ofsted, will update members on progress with implementing the new Framework as we reach the end of the first 6 months of Inspections. This session will focus on lessons and learning as a core topic but will include a section for Q and A with Ofsted, and where possible latest inspection feedback from member organisations. UVAC login required for registration.

Apprenticeship Funding Rules -Final 2026/2027

DATE: Wednesday 5th August 2026 | 9:30 - 11:30

TOPIC: Apprenticeship Funding Rules

CONTENT:

This session will explore any final changes to the 2026 Funding Rules, The Growth and Skills Levy Rules and any other changes at of the start of the new academic funding year rules. UVAC login required for registration.

STATE OF THE NATION - RECORDINGS

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