More apprentices progress into Higher Education

12 May 2014 03:12 PM

Thousands more apprentices are progressing into Higher Education following their apprenticeship. 

Thousands more apprentices are progressing into Higher Education following their apprenticeship, Matthew Hancock announced today (12 May 2014).

The Skills and Enterprise Minister published research which shows that overall, almost 20% of advanced apprentices moved onto Higher Education following the completion of their apprenticeship. Cohorts of apprentices have been tracked for 7 years since 2005/2006 and there have been over 32,000 people that have made the progression in total.

Skills and Enterprise Minister Matthew Hancock said:

This research shows the opportunities available to apprentices are vast and apprenticeships can help people progress into the next stage of learning to help boost their prospects of getting a rewarding career.

I want it to become the new norm for young people to either choose an apprenticeship or begin university. These new figures show that apprenticeships offer qualifications which will support young people throughout their working life.

The research also shows that a number of those people that moved onto Higher Education were from a more disadvantaged background and less likely to attend university straight from school or college. This shows that advanced apprenticeships have a role to play in promoting social mobility and supporting those that want to move into Higher Education.

The Skills Minister was speaking at the Apprenticeships in the Business and Outsourced Services Industry Conference which was hosted by Barclays and the British Service Association, who have published data that shows their members employ 11,500 apprentices nationwide.

The minister also used his speech to talk about recent reforms to the apprenticeship system, including Trailblazers, a system to put employers in the driving seat and design the apprenticeship standards for their sector. The minister also discussed proposed funding reforms to the apprenticeship system whereby funding will be routed via employers and they will be able to choose and pay for the exact training that their apprentice requires.

The minister went on to highlight the growth of higher apprenticeships and the government’s commitment to fund an extra 20,000 higher apprenticeships over the next 2 years.

Notes to Editors:

1. The full research is available at ‘Apprenticeships: progression to higher education - 2014 update’ The advanced apprenticeship cohorts were tracked for 7 years since 2005/2006.

2. Two other reports also published today (12 May 2014) show that apprenticeships are revolutionising recruitment for employers as well. Our new health care apprenticeships are winning strong support, opening up new vocational routes into senior clinical support roles and allowing employers to recoup their costs in as little as 1 to 2 years.

3. The new Level 4 Apprenticeship in Accounting has given employers accustomed to recruiting and training school-leavers on an individual basis the chance to access a wider, broader training scheme, backed up by government.

4. The government’s long-term plan is to build a strong, more competitive economy and a fairer society.
   Industrial Strategy gives impetus to the plan for growth by providing businesses, investors and the public with clarity about the long-term direction in which the government wants the economy to travel.
   The first achievements and future priorities of the industrial strategy have been published and can be found herehttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-strategy-early-succ esses-and-future-priorities.