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Introduction
The UK government is committed to expanding the number, range and quality of apprenticeships and promoting higher apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships as an alternative to the more conventional routes to higher education (HE) (BIS, 2015a). Further education (FE) colleges in England are amongst the key providers of apprenticeships although these are also delivered by alternative providers. This landscape is likely to witness a change with the introduction of the new degree apprenticeships and universities are being encouraged to actively respond to this agenda. Although the number of degree apprentices is low, it is anticipated that over 40 universities will become involved in the delivery of degree apprenticeships in 2016 (UUK, 2016). The English apprenticeship system is undergoing a reform and all new apprenticeships are being developed by the employer-led trailblazers. This reform is based on the recommendations made by the Richard Review of Apprenticeships (Richard, 2012) and on the premise that the standards designed by the employers will ensure that apprenticeships are relevant and therefore more attractive to the employers, and better able to meet the needs of the sector(s) and the economy.
This paper draws on a qualitative exploratory research funded and supported by the Mixed Economy Group (MEG) of colleges. Whilst every FE college (FEC) in England delivers apprenticeships, higher apprenticeships are only a small proportion of overall apprenticeship provision at FECs (AoC, 2015). This research investigated the college rationale for delivery of higher apprenticeships and gathered the perceptions of college staff and managers on the uptake of higher apprenticeships.
Context
Skills needs and apprenticeships
The UK suffers from a low skills base and there have been calls from the businesses to improve the work-ready skills of new entrants to the workforce (BCC, 2014). The results from an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) study show that England ranks third (out of 23 countries that participated in the Adult Skills Survey) for a high percentage of 16-24 year olds with low literacy and numeracy skills (Kuczera et al., 2016). The UK holds a poor position on intermediate professional and technical skills, and is forecast to fall to 28th out of the 33 OECD countries for intermediate skills by 2020 (Bosworth, 2014). A report by the UK Commission for Employment and...