Department(s)/colleagues involved

Strategy & Policy, School of Engineering, Centre for Lifelong Learning, the Education Group, IT Services, Finance Office, Chemistry, WMG, PVC (Education) & Education Executive and other colleagues from across the institution.

Our aim was to …

Develop two entirely new Degree Apprenticeship (DA) programmes in Civil Engineering and Social Work, of the very highest quality, and to develop in parallel the systems and processes required to make DAs an integral part of our educational provision. We view DAs as very important to contribute to meeting the changing requirements of students, to improve our engagement with industry, to broaden our sector-leading social inclusion activities, and to help us address profound skills gaps both in our region and nationally.

What we did …

Supported in part by a grant from HEFCE, we have worked closely with colleagues from across the University and beyond, to develop two new high-quality degree apprenticeship programmes in a very short space of time. Enabling activities for this include building new Virtual Learning Environments, developing a new course approvals process for degree apprenticeships, creating a work-based learning framework, writing a new admissions statement, and where necessary re-writing University Regulations to support the introduction of these new degrees.

The outcome has been …

The Civil Engineering DA launched in November 2018 and the Social Work DA is set to launch in March 2019. The hard work continues as we engage with more employers and prospective apprentices, and behind the scenes with University colleagues to ensure that these and other DAs can be delivered smoothly and with minimal disruption.

The benefit/impact has been …

Degree Apprenticeships provide a debt-free route to obtaining a high-quality degree and we believe that they should be open to people from all backgrounds. We have worked hard to open new pathways into the University by measuring the capability of prospective apprentices in ways that are not reliant on A-Level achievement.

In some academic disciplines we believe that the creation of degree apprenticeships could result in a new stream of student entrants wishing to study at universities on pathways that differ from our more traditional degrees. Similarly, recent evidence suggests that the number of job opportunities originating through DAs could increase significantly. By diversifying our educational offer through degree apprenticeships, we are ensuring that the University remains competitive.

This supports the Education Strategy by …

Degree Apprenticeships support the Education Strategy in many ways. They are a facilitator of the strategy as an important alternative pathway into higher education. They have the potential to be an important part of our Widening Participation activities, particularly by making HE accessible to learners from disadvantaged backgrounds, with different types of qualification and from across our own region. As part of the programme we are developing new academic systems including sophisticated Virtual Learning Environments and a work-based learning framework that in time will benefit students on our traditional degrees as well. Finally, teaching excellence and employability are at the heart of everything we are doing through the introduction of this new type of degree.

The response of students / staff has been …

The response of staff from across the University has been very positive, and colleagues have worked exceptionally hard to make such a challenging project a success. We have also received valuable support from the Students’ Union.

Our next steps will be …

There’s still a huge amount of work to be done, but we are confident that the programmes will be a success. We have plans to develop DAs in a number of other academic areas, so we’ll be working hard to build strong links with employers and other potential partners. We will also be looking at schools engagement to raise awareness of this alternative route into HE, and to increase applications from women onto our STEM DA programmes.

To find out more, you can contact …

If you’d like to find out more about Degree Apprenticeships then contact a member of the team:

Chrissie Elliot-Duxson – C.A.Duxson@warwick.ac.uk

Miranda Blofeld – M.Blofeld@warwick.ac.uk

Sam Hardy – Samuel.a.hardy@warwick.ac.uk