We are delighted to introduce Oxford Brookes University as sponsor of the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards 2021 Apprenticeship Champion Award. This award has been developed from the Apprenticeship Ambassador Award and will recognise individuals who have gone the extra mile to promote Apprenticeships and/or enable Apprenticeships to continue during the exceptional circumstances resulting from COVID-19.

Oxford Brookes is one of the UK's leading modern universities and enjoys an international reputation for teaching excellence and innovation as well as strong links with business and industry. Clare McLening, Partnerships & Apprenticeships Manager at Oxford Brookes, explains why Apprenticeships are so important to the organisation and why they're keen to shout about Apprenticeship successes.

Tell us why you’re supporting the Oxfordshire Apprenticeship Awards and why you have chosen to sponsor your particular category

Oxford Brookes University understands that the recent Apprenticeship reforms offer an opportunity to support regional growth and productivity strategies and therefore would like to be involved in raising the profile of the Apprenticeships route, especially at higher and degree level. We are keen to promote Apprenticeships as a credible route for employers to offer as continuing professional development to their employees. Being relatively new to delivering Apprenticeships, the University would like to continue to raise its profile with both employers and Apprentices.

Oxford Brookes University chose to sponsor the Apprenticeship Ambassador Award on 2020 because it was keen to support and highlight the work that the Apprenticeship Ambassadors do in promoting Apprenticeships as a valued and respected career path and we understand how influential it can be to have young people who are currently undertaking an Apprenticeship to talk to other young people about their choices for the future.  

Ambassadors haven't been able to be as active as in previous years due to COVID-19, so we are pleased to see the category broadened to recognise individuals who have supported Apprenticeships during this difficult time.

What are you looking for in the winner of your category?

Oxford Brookes University will be looking for an enthusiastic individual who has gone above and beyond to champion Apprenticeships in Oxfordshire.

Tell us about your organisation’s experience of Apprenticeships

For over a decade Oxford Brookes University has worked in partnership with FE Colleges delivering vocational and part time HE provision including more recently higher-level Apprenticeships. 

As a training provider, we deliver a number of Apprenticeship standards from level 5 to level 7 and in the 2019/20 academic year we will be training approximately 450 Apprentices.

Although Brookes is concentrating on degree Apprenticeships to medium and large employers, the Associate College Partnership enables a local response to the requirements of SMEs and the development of a coherent progression route for Apprentices from level 2 to 7.

As an Apprenticeship Levy payer, we have plans to increase the number of Apprentices within our workforce.

Join the conversation

Join us for Oxfordshire Apprenticeships Hour (#OAHour) on Twitter @OxonApprentice from 1pm every Thursday for latest on the Awards and join in the conversation using the hashtag #OAAwards2021.