Apprenticeships Management System (AMS)

The University delivers two types of Apprenticeships across circa. 2000 learners: 1. Apprenticeships covering various Schools in NTU 2. Further Education (post 16) Apprenticeships which are mainly based out at the Brackenhurst Campus

The risk of compliance and quality failure is high as a direct result of the current systems landscape and the surrounding processes.

Ofsted reputational damage is key, and a negative Ofsted audit would be followed up with further audits from Ofsted and the ESFA. In addition to this, our volume of apprenticeships, both in courses and student numbers has grown whilst our systems haven't matured to cope with this increase - and this increase is set to continue with the apprenticeship program being an area of growth for the University.

For the previous 2 years we have had a 7% growth which looks set to continue this year. The official target planning numbers for 23/24 are 540 new apprentices, but we will likely add additional courses to support local and regional business needs, particularly for the NHS.

It is very challenging for colleagues managing the data due to so many sources and places it is kept, impacting consistent processing and accurate reporting.

Resulting Risk - We get funding removed if we cannot provide the correct information i.e. An ESFA audit failure could result in clawback of funds.

Resulting Risk - Reputational damage to NTU from poor Ofsted ratings impacting employer and apprentice uptake.

The overall goal of this Project as part of the Student Data Transformation programme, is to ensure that Apprenticeships data is compliant, manageable, scalable, accessible to those that need it, and that the data quality is sound. We will procure a new solution to achieve this goal.