Middlesex University wins over £3.5 million to grow degree apprenticeships meeting the needs of NHS and school employers

MDX receives largest amount awarded to single bid as part of Office for Students funding competition.

Middlesex University has been awarded over £3.5 million by the Office for Students (OfS) to support the development and expansion of degree apprenticeships in healthcare and teaching. 

The University was awarded £3,381,000 to lead and establish the Healthcare Education Consortium in partnership with Greenwich, Brighton, Oxford Brookes, Hertfordshire, Birmingham City, and Kingston universities. The Consortium will coordinate and expand healthcare degree apprenticeships to help meet NHS demand for clinical staff. This was the largest amount awarded to a single bid as part of the OfS funding competition which was launched last year to expand degree apprenticeships. It has distributed up to £40 million via three funding waves.

The University was also awarded £160,000 to support the development of a Teacher Degree Apprenticeship to better meet the needs of school employers and widen the pool of potential applicants to the profession.

Healthcare Education Consortium

Professor Darryll Bravenboer, Director of Apprenticeships and Professor of Higher Education and Skills at Middlesex University, said: “The Healthcare Education Consortium aims to grow the number of degree apprentices in vital clinical areas identified by the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan by maximising the collaborative advantage from shared expertise and pooled resources.

"We aim to provide benefits for healthcare employers through a coordinated and comprehensive offer that is designed to align with local, regional, and national healthcare needs. We will scale operations in partnership with NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Boards and co-design programmes to meet their needs.”  

Middlesex University has an excellent track record of providing high-quality training to meet NHS workforce needs, particularly in London, including delivering higher and degree apprenticeships. The University’s experience of leading the successful Police Education Consortium, with three university partners, also provides a model for how university collaboration can be effectively mobilised for public benefit.

This approach enabled Surrey Police, Sussex Police, and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary to fully meet their workforce targets for the National Uplift Programme, a Home Office initiative to help police forces recruit additional officers. 

The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan has very ambitious commitments for growing the NHS workforce and specifies the proportion that should be provided by delivering degree apprenticeships. The Healthcare Education Consortium can offer a collaborative approach to meeting these commitments.

Professor Darryll Bravenboer

Teacher Degree Apprenticeship While there are a number of routes to becoming a qualified teacher, the advent of the Teacher Degree Apprenticeship means that aspiring teachers will be employed and work in a school while working towards achieving their degree and qualified teacher status (QTS). 

The new apprenticeship will allow schools across the country to recruit more teachers and open up opportunities for more people, including teaching assistants, to gain QTS. The Government has a target of recruiting thousands of additional teachers nationally.

Middlesex University has an established track record of training teachers and meeting the needs of school employers. The Teacher Degree Apprenticeship programme at Middlesex will initially focus on training primary school teachers in partnership with local schools in North West London. 

“There is a substantial need for skilled and dedicated teaching professionals, and we are committed to playing a pivotal role in meeting this demand with our local school partners,” said Professor Bravenboer. 

“Through developing our programme in partnership with school employers, we will provide aspiring teachers with the necessary knowledge, skills and professional behaviours to ensure they benefit from practical, hands-on experience in the classroom. This approach will prepare our apprentices to excel in their teaching careers and help to address the shortage of qualified teachers in the region and nationally.”

Degree apprenticeships are growing in popularity as they offer excellent opportunities for accessing a wide range of professional jobs, at no cost to the individual. Apprentices are employed and an integral part of their job is to undertake high-quality training to enable them to become professionally qualified.

Professor Bravenboer said: “We have been one of the most successful universities in this funding competition, with winning bids in all three waves. We are a major provider of degree apprenticeships and a leading voice in the apprenticeships and skills sector. We also have a track record of producing research which has influenced how degree apprenticeships are structured and shown how they improve social mobility.” 

In previous funding rounds, Middlesex University was successful in bids to offer Social Worker, Environmental Health Practitioner, and Digital degree apprenticeships. 

Find out more about degree apprenticeships at Middlesex University.