Higher level apprenticeships get £500k boost
1 min read
A framework to help overcome SME skills gaps and increase the number of apprentices being hired is to be established through the allocation of £500,000 from the government's Higher Apprenticeship Fund.
Business secretary Vince Cable announced that Semta – the sector skills council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies – had been awarded £500,000 from the Higher Apprenticeship Fund to develop the apprenticeship, and other new vocational qualifications and technical certificates in line with employer requirements.
The Higher Apprenticeship framework will be available at levels 4, 5 and 6 and will incorporate an HNC; HND or foundation degree; and an Honours Degree. It is anticipated the qualifications, work-based learning and skills will build, over three to five years, a route to professional accreditation.
The National Apprenticeship Service has provided funding to kick-start the development with leading companies so that a 'pathfinder' framework will be available from April 2012. The complete framework will then be rolled out through supply chains to achieve a target of 250 apprenticeship starts from around 150 SMEs by December 2012.
