Higher and Degree Apprenticeships

Higher and Degree Apprenticeships

UVAC provides an Advocacy Voice that Makes a Difference

Working with partners, UVAC has achieved the following:

  • Campaigned for HEFCE/QAA quality oversight of Degree Apprenticeship and Higher Apprenticeships based on prescribed HE qualifications – now agreed by DfE
  • Lobbied for increasing use of the Integrated Degree Apprenticeship model and QAA as the provider of external quality assurance – in principle agreed
  • Argued for earlier and greater HEI engagement in the Apprenticeship development process – now reflected in the Institute for Apprenticeship (IfA) Trailblazer Guidance
  • Argued for more HE appropriate ESFA and IfA Apprenticeship systems – some progress, but substantially more work to be done!

UVAC’s chief executive, Adrian Anderson, has produced a series of opinion pieces and articles on the issues affecting higher and degree apprenticeships:

September 2017: The Invitation to Tender – Why It’s Now Judgement Time for the ESFA on Degree Apprenticeships

August 2017: Apprenticeships – Why the employer and NOT the “man from the ministry” knows best

July 2017: Apprenticeship – why high quality does mean a push for higher apprenticeships

May 2017: A pause for thought or a rewind?

May 2017: The ESFA approach to the allocation of apprenticeship funding for non-levy paying employers undermines the apprenticeship reforms

March 2017: The Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA) – a new dawn or more of the same?

December 2016: Why it’s crunch time for the Skills Funding Agency with the apprenticeship reforms

For further information on UVAC’s position on the Institute for Apprenticeships see:

UVAC Response to the consultation on IfA’s Quality Statement

UVAC Response to the Draft Strategic Guidance to the Institute for Apprenticeship

UVAC Response to Institute for Apprenticeships – Driving the Quality of Apprenticeships in England

For further information on UVAC’s position on the system for Apprenticeships see:

UVAC Response to DfE Apprenticeships Funding Policy Survey September 2017