MSc Apprenticeship entry requirements and funding problems

[RoseyPosiePie]

Hi

I'm looking at doing a MSc, but my background is somewhat patchwork, in that I don't have a degree from a traditional university- instead I have professional qualifications and 30 years experience in the field.

There are several universities admissions departments that have said they would be delighted to accept an application from me (and a couple that have said no - one in particular said it was a bit silly that I could have a completely unrelated degree and no experience and they would happily accept and application, but they couldn't look at me without a formal degree).

I've found that a single university do a MSc apprenticeship in this subject, which is very interesting and something my employers, I'm sure, would be very happy to support me with. However, admissions are being a bit cagey, saying they can't say whether my application would be accepted due to funding rules, and I should submit an application via my employers and see.

But obviously, as a senior manager, I don't really want to get my manager and HR involved, if it's likely to be a no!

Can anyone throw any light? Is it really that strict, or is there a chance?

Thanks!

As long as you have level 2 maths and English and role that allows you to meet the senior leader apprenticeship standards then you'll be fine.

Or whatever standard the apprenticeship is aligned to!

Thank you! I won't feel a fool making enquiries then!

I’m an apprenticeships administrator at a HE provider.

ESFA rules are extremely strict and providers are usually very wary of falling foul of them.

But, on the apprenticeship side they’re actually less likely to kick up a fuss about the lack of L6 qualifications, if you have L2 English and Maths and the right professional qualifications/ experience.

It’s the academic side that is more likely to cause an issue. From my experience, it’s likely that the Apprenticeship Admissions team is a separate team from the General university admissions team. The former may be cagey about what the latter will accept, especially if the working relationship between the two teams is strained (it usually is).

Is there information about who the course leader is? They are more likely to be open to discussing the potential for applying, in my experience.

At my institution, we would expect employer buy in before we were willing to invest any time into getting the processes moving on our end, so that might also be a block for getting useful information.

Thank you @winchwarrior, that's interesting, and makes sense. I'll have to speak with the boss and HR then!

Yes I would suggest getting boss / HR on board, there’s all sorts of eligibility things relating to the role and the company that need to be met too.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that the apprenticeship funding year runs 1st August - 1st August, so we’re coming up to a bit of a year end time period. The finding and eligibility rules often also change every year, so there may be some uncertainty just now that isn’t usually there.

What would the start date be? most of our September cohorts had a cut off date for applications of mid-late June.

Thank you - I think it says applications have to be in by 12th August - which doesn't give me much time, although HR have done plenty of apprenticeships before so I'm hoping it would be fairly straightforward for them! I'm just worried that I'll push for it, but then get turned down, which would be quite embarrassing!

The other thing to think about is if work would be happy for you to have the 20% time off the job for learning each week.

It’s great if your company is used to dealing with apprenticeships though, will make everything much easier!

The eligibility rules are so tight and often slightly strange, so it really is very common for people to apply to things / scope things out and then them not be able to do that course. And it often has little to do with how well that person would do on the course.