Ofsted praise for degree apprenticeships

LJMU has earned a glowing report from Ofsted following an inspection of its degree apprenticeship programmes.

Inspectors visited the university to assess the apprenticeships delivered across seven schools, which enable students to achieve a full degree while developing practical skills in the workplace.

The university has been running degree apprenticeships since 2016 and currently has more than 1,200 students working across a range of sectors, including policing, healthcare, civil engineering, chartered surveying and business management.

In a highly positive report, Ofsted rated LJMU as:

Overall effectiveness: GOOD
Quality of education: GOOD
Behaviour and attitudes: OUTSTANDING
Personal development: GOOD
Leadership and management: GOOD
Apprenticeships: GOOD

“A culture of support, mutual respect and trust”

Ofsted found that lecturers and support staff provide “highly skilful support” to students within a “culture of support, mutual respect and trust” at the university. They found that our apprentices are “ambitious and proud of their achievements” and “consistently demonstrate very professional and positive behaviours and attitudes to their learning”.

The inspectors praised LJMU for ensuring its degree apprenticeship programmes reflect the needs of local and regional employers and enable learners to develop the key skills to progress in their careers.

“A tremendous achievement”

Professor Alison Cotgrave, LJMU’s Academic Registrar, said: “We are exceptionally pleased with the outcome. To get a ‘good’ overall judgement in our first inspection is a really big achievement.

“It puts us in good stead to grow our apprenticeship provision in the future and helps us to develop our portfolio in line with our plans to increase our number of apprentices by 2030.

“Everybody who was involved in every aspect of this visit was amazing; this was LJMU really pulling together.”

Professor Clare Milson, Registrar and Chief Operating Officer, said: “I am extremely proud of the result. It is a tremendous achievement and one the whole university can celebrate.

“I’m absolutely delighted with the rating of outstanding for behaviour and attitudes. It really evidences the respect our learners have for each other and also aligns with LJMU’s values; the institution values respect and is committed to an environment which nurtures difference.”

You can watch more reaction to the report in the short video above and read the report in full here.