Latest news and trends

The NHS and other healthcare providers in England are set to benefit from a boost to nursing apprenticeships thanks to new funding from Health Education England.  As part of the Government’s pledge to deliver 50,000 new nurses by the end of their current term, a £172m fund has been made available to encourage the uptake of Registered Nurse Degree Apprenticeships (RNDA).

At just 20 years old, degree apprentice, Tom Amer has an enviable employment history and professional experience. Two years into his four-year apprenticeship programme, Tom has delivered million-pound savings to his employer, taught hundreds of young people to code, and been flown to New York to talk about it.

Covid-19 has had a huge impact on the employment prospects for young people. In fact, research shows that it’s young people who have been most hard hit by the pandemic and whose work opportunities are likely to be most affected going forward as the economic fallout continues

UK organisations anticipate that it will take 18 months to fully recover from the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent social distancing measures, with small businesses leading the way back to “normal”.

As the logistics and transport industry is rising to the challenge of coronavirus with flexibility and resilience, it seems apt that the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport opted to move its annual conference online this year.

The Open University has been training practising social workers for over twenty years. 250 social workers qualify with the OU each year, a total of 6,400 social workers since 1997

A national shortage of social workers means that many local councils in the UK struggle to recruit enough social workers. For Cornwall Council, the problem is exacerbated by geography and a lack of fast transport links. “Cornwall, in terms of geography, is particularly difficult to recruit to,” says Anne Smith, Head of Service for Safeguarding, Quality and Practice for Adults at Cornwall Council.

Dr Mercia Spare has an inspiring career story to tell. Having left school with one CSE and college without any A-levels, she started her working life in a series of low paid industry jobs. Those jobs were okay but she knew that she wanted more from work. She wanted a job where she was caring for people, where she was making people’s lives better. She knew she wanted to be a nurse. “Nursing was my pathway,” she says.

The Open University is delivering a Graduate Apprenticeship in Cyber Security to eight Capgemini employees in Inverness. The Graduate Apprenticeship has been designed so that employees who have already completed a relevant MA will be fast-tracked through the programme.

Find out how The Open University’s English and maths (functional skills) provision opens doors to higher and degree apprenticeships.