Events | UVAC

UVAC EVENTS

Apprenticeship Audits & the new Test Papers - Members only

DATE: Wednesday 25th February 2026 | 9:30 - 12:00

TOPIC: Apprenticeship Audits & the new Test Papers

CONTENT:

This session will explore the latest audit test papers and a proposed good practice approach to conducting an internal audit using the new 2025/2026 test papers. We will also explain the approach that external auditors will take and how to best prepare, and look at the common audit findings with a focus on higher education. UVAC login required for registration.

Apprenticeship Funding Rules - Growth and Skills Units & Modules

DATE: Tuesday 10th March 2026 | 9:30 - 11:30

TOPIC: Growth and Skills Units & Modules

CONTENT:

This session will explore the practical implications of new funding rules created to govern the units and modules fundable from the Growth and Skills Levy from 1st April. We will include the 2025/2026 funding rules if these are released simultaneously UVAC login required for registration.

UVAC Social Work Network

DATE: Tuesday 10th March 2026 | 13:30 - 15:30

TOPIC: UVAC Social Work Network

CONTENT:

At our upcoming session on the 10th of March, we are delighted to welcome Skills England, who will provide an update on the national skills landscape and what it means specifically for social work education and apprenticeships. We will also hear from a sector colleague sharing best practice aligned to QAA expectations, offering practical insight into quality, standards and delivery. Alongside this, UVAC will provide updates on developments across the vocational and skills agenda helping you stay ahead of policy shifts and regulatory change in a rapidly evolving environment. UVAC login required for registration.

UVAC Innovation Exchange: Ask, Innovate, Sustain: Powering the UK’s STEM Growth Ambitions

DATE: Wednesday 11th March 2026 | 9:30 - 16:30

TOPIC: Exploring curiosity-driven research, skills, and technologies, for a greener more sustainable future

CONTENT:

Hosted at the NCC- a world-leading innovation organisation that transforms cutting edge research and technology into industrial impact, the Exchange will spotlight how cutting-edge technologies and industrial applications are advancing the UK’s strategic priorities in Aerospace, Energy Securitisation and Digital Technologies. From lightweight composite materials enabling cleaner, more efficient flight, to digital modelling, automation, and data-driven manufacturing enhancing industrial performance, through to materials and digital innovation supporting renewable energy systems and infrastructure resilience, we will examine how ideas become impact, across product life cycles and industrial value chains. These technologies are central to reducing environmental impact, accelerating Net Zero ambitions and delivering the skilled workforce required for a greener and more sustainable future.

Innovation Exchange Online: Raising Standards, Championing Future Skills and Empowering Young Learners to Succeed

DATE: Wednesday 25th March 2026 | 10:00 - 10:45

TOPIC: Raising Standards, Championing Future Skills and Empowering Young Learners to Succeed

CONTENT:

Join us, and our WorldSkills UK partners, as we explore the support available for universities and further and higher technical education providers, through the WorldSkills UK Centre of Excellence, and the benefits of Centre of Excellence membership. Including World Class Teacher Training continuing professional development, industry-led Technical Masterclasses, and the on- demand resources, toolkits and support available through the WorldSkills UK Learning Lab.

We will also explore how your organisation can become involved in local, regional, national and international competitions, to provide inclusive, enriched and enhanced learning opportunities for students, helping them to develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours for the world of work, and the work of the world.

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.

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.

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 in attending via this link. You are also very welcome just to attend. 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. For further information or informal conversation contact Dr Mandy Crawford-Lee (e) [email protected] or Dr Fran Myers (e) [email protected]

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

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.

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

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 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

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.

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