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Author

Jenny Allen

Head of Access to HE Regulation, QAA

As we mark National Apprenticeship Week, QAA's Jenny Allen considers how the Access to Higher Education Diploma has supported its students into higher and degree apprenticeships – and into diverse other areas of higher education.

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows that, between 2019 and 2024, 1,923 Access to HE students progressed onto higher and degree apprenticeships.

In the academic year 2019-20, 198 students progressed from the Access to HE Diploma (AHED) into higher and degree apprenticeships. By 2023-24, that number had risen to 481 students – an increase of more than 140 per cent.

While numbers of students on AHED courses remained relatively stable during this five-year period – even despite the Covid-19 pandemic – the significant increase witnessed in apprenticeship progressions appears to reflect a surge of interest in higher and degree apprenticeships, as reflected in the growing press and political enthusiasm for this area of provision.

It's also notable that this five-year period saw particular increases in the number of AHED students progressing into apprenticeship provision in healthcare, nursing, midwifery and social work.

These are areas of AHED provision which have proven traditionally strong, successful and popular, providing specialist routes into those respected vocations – opening avenues of progression for returners to learning which are not so commonly offered elsewhere. The especial social value of these roles across the UK both during and since the pandemic has become even clearer than ever.

So, as I said, between 2019 and 2024, nearly 2,000 AHED students progressed to higher and degree apprenticeships. Yet that represents less than two per cent of all AHED progressions into higher education during that period – though that proportion is likely to increase in future years as degree apprenticeship opportunities, supported by governments of all political stripes, continue to grow.

But it's also of course worth mentioning, then, the other 98 per cent.

Nearly two years ago, QAA celebrated the registration of our first million students onto Access to Higher Education Diploma courses since we started managing the scheme for the recognition and quality assurance of this provision in 1997.

During that time,  these courses have helped the likes of Midwifery student Ellen Underwood, Nursing student Sheree O'Neil and veterinary nurse Ellie Nancarrow to fulfil their dreams – not to mention Zia Din, whose Access to HE Diploma in Computer Science opened the door to his Level 4 apprenticeship in Data Analytics back in 2021.

AHED courses have supported the progression of their students' into the study of Medicine, Radiography, Paramedic Sciences, Sociology, Criminology, Engineering, History, Politics, English Literature, Performing Arts and Media – among many other subjects.

Our graduates have even included a Member of Parliament and the Vice-Chancellor of a university.

I joined QAA last October and, since then, I have been awed to hear, from my colleagues both here and in our Access Validating Agencies and course providers, as well as from our students and graduates themselves – such accounts of the impacts of AHED courses in transforming the courses of people's lives.

And I've heard so often that, while the qualification itself has secured their places in higher education, it was the knowledge and skills our alumnae and alumni gained through their AHED studies which prepared them to progress in their learning journeys – and the enthusiasm, kindness and inspirational commitment of their Access to HE lecturers which spurred them on to do so.

I've been privileged to hear similar stories time and again, and am inspired every day by the ambitions, efforts and achievements of our students and graduates, their successes in business, science, technology, public service and academic careers, their contributions to our society, the ways in which educational opportunities have enriched their lives, and the ways in which they continue to enrich and support others' lives.

Thank you all for your stories. I very much look forward to hearing many, many more.