PurposeThis paper examines how the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital developments in apprenticeship and work-based learning in higher education (HE), focusing on practices that have ongoing value.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was carried out on the theme of HE work-based and work-integrated learning during the pandemic, followed by minimally-structured interviews with UK university staff responsible for apprenticeship and other work-based programmes.FindingsThe pandemic has accelerated adoption of online and digital methods to support work-based and apprenticeship learning. There has been progress from emergency measures to more pedagogically consistent ones. A blended approach is becoming common, with the learning and logistical benefits from digital methods ensuring their continuing use. Progress is uneven and there is still a need for improved digital pedagogy and better integration of theoretical and practical learning.Practical implicationsMore attention is needed to digital pedagogy and to effective use of online methods to support work-based learning with corresponding implications for staff development. There are institutional implications in terms of ensuring that systems and structures support what is, particularly for work-based learners, likely to be a permanent move towards digital, blended and online learning.Originality/valueThere has been limited research on the impact of the pandemic on work-based learning, with most of the literature focusing on placements and projects. This paper presents findings at a point when universities are considering how technologically-supported methods will be employed on a more permanent basis.

Guest editorial Degree apprenticeships: delivering quality and social mobility? Employers in England are increasingly shifting their skills and talent pipeline strategies towards higher levels, including degree apprenticeships. There is no doubt that the introduction of degree apprenticeships in 2015 represented an exciting policy move, supported by employers who have focussed on the creation of apprenticeships for job roles to meet sector skills and productivity objectives. Expansive developments can be seen across key public and private sector occupations including nursing, policing, social work, teaching, engineering, construction, digital technology and in leadership and management. Equally, there is little doubt over the positive influence made by UK Higher Education (HE) providers of all sizes and types to drive the upward migration in the skill level and professional occupational focus of apprenticeships, including postgraduate delivery. However, as this phenomenon grows, so have a number of debates about the focus of apprenticeships, with views increasingly polarised and language bordering on territorial. Should the apprenticeship system retain its primary focus on level 2 skills and support for young people entering the workforce or redefine its purpose to raise productivity, deliver high-quality public services and enhance the social mobility through outstanding teaching, learning and assessment? As a result of this building critique, Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) (guest editor's institution) and the University Vocational Awards Council (this journal's primary sponsor and guest editor's organisation) convened a national conference in June 2018 for thought leaders and innovators to explore, understand and address issues of quality, widening participation and social inclusion in higher level and degree apprenticeship delivery. The conference was to be a celebration of achievements and opportunities in HE aimed at bringing out the best in emerging practice. It also launched an exciting number of academic papers that now form the scope of this special issue with content that looks to further our understanding of the impact on and the response from the work-based learning community, learners, employers and wider stakeholders we serve. This special issue comes at a critical moment for learning and skills development. Some might say the transformative impact of higher level and degree apprenticeships and the advent of the apprenticeship levy (alongside government co-funding for non-levy paying employers) has been a positive disruptor in the relationship between HE and business that raises a number of important issues about how reduced inequalities and improved quality of delivery (including outcomes) are achieved. Writing in the New Statesman in November 2018, the Chair of The Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework, Professor Sir Chris Husbands (vice-chancellor, SHU) asked: […] how do we re-purpose our education and training institutions to meet the challenges of diversification and flexibility...

Sustainability 2030: a policy perspective from the University Vocational Awards CouncilAbstract Purpose: The policy and practice sphere of higher education, skills and work-based learning has become increasingly problematic in the last few years, and the extent to which sustainability and sustainable development are embedded in policy and practice spaces is a cause for concern. This paper posits a policy perspective from the University Vocational Awards Council (UVAC), the national representative organisation for universities committed to the vocational agenda and an independent voice in the sphere of higher education, skills and work-based learning.Design/methodology/approach: This paper is a reflective policy and practice piece which draws on the latest policy moves by the UK government and associated organisations and engages the latest literature to examine the issues in policy and practice that need to be tackled.Findings: This paper argues for a greater integration of sustainable development into higher education, skills and work-based learning policy and practice, and specifically in relation to (1) creating inclusive workplaces, (2) promoting social mobility, (3) a balanced approach to productivity, health and wellbeing, and (4) embedding educational approaches and methods which promote inequality in workplaces.Originality/value: The paper is the only UK policy perspective explicitly dedicated to sustainability and sustainable development in the context of the sphere of higher education, skills and work-based learning. Although it is focused on UK policy context, it will be of interest to international readers wishing to learn about UK developments and the sustainable development challenges in relation to its apprenticeship, technical and vocational education system.

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This paper outlines support for adopting a people-centred approach to economic development that has been taken forward in West Yorkshire-an approach that recognises that prosperity in a global economy is driven by ideas, information and knowledge. This is very different to the industrial economy of the past. It presents both a model for an integrated workforce development system and a framework for improving linkages between human capital and economic development. Indeed, it is understood that it is those local areas with a strong, adequately skilled, human capital base that are best placed to utilise knowledge and to transfer this know-how into cutting-edge techniques for the production of goods and services. As such, investment in people's knowledge and skills is a crucial aspect of achieving sustained economic growth in a networked, knowledge-driven, global economy.