An Apprenticeship is ‘a job with training to industry standards’ (as defined by the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education), which integrates on and off the job learning. Apprenticeships that include a higher education qualification have been developed to meet the need for higher level professional and technical skills in specific occupations. A characteristics statement for HE in Apprenticeships is available on the QAA website.
The University is the main provider for a number of Higher Apprenticeship programmes (incorporating academic awards at levels 4 and 5) and Degree Apprenticeship programmes (incorporating academic awards at levels 6 and 7).
A number of other Brookes awards contribute to apprenticeship programmes through arrangements with members of the Associate College Partnership In these cases, the colleges are the main providers and the University makes the academic award. Details of the apprenticeships currently on offer at Oxford Brookes, and its partners, can be found on the University’s Apprenticeships web pages.
Students who fail to meet the full requirements for the award of an apprenticeship may not automatically be eligible for an exit award, depending on the requirements of individual Apprenticeship Standards. However, where possible, they will be issued with an appropriate exit award, and all students will be issued with a transcript of modules taken when they complete their studies.
The Open Award framework enables a student to design their own programme of study by combining appropriate prior learning (assessed through a formal accreditation of prior learning, or APL, process) with a selection of any appropriate Brookes modules. Students may study for Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees, and the normal credit and progression requirements apply to awards taken through this framework.
‘Short courses’ are defined as courses that lead to the award of up to 60 credits, but not a substantive qualification; and may be offered at any level from 4 to 7. Students who satisfy the requirements of the course, by passing the approved assessments, are issued with a certificate of credit, and a transcript showing the modules taken.
Exit awards are unclassified. They are made to students who elect not to complete, or fail to meet the credit, or progression, requirements for, the full target award on which they are enrolled. Exit awards are only made at the point at which a student leaves their course, and are not available as interim awards while they continue to study towards the main target award. The typical exit awards associated with each type of major target award are indicated in the relevant sections in 2.1 above. The specific exit awards available from a taught programme of study will be detailed in the approved Programme Specification.
An aegrotat award is an award for incomplete study, conferred in extreme situations where a student’s ability to complete their target award is permanently compromised (for a reason which is too severe to be resolved through the exceptional circumstances procedure). It is a final exit award, and no further opportunities for re-assessment are available to a student who chooses to accept an aegrotat award. The conferment of an aegrotat award may, however, be prohibited by professional body requirements, and, if this is the case, details will be set out in the approved programme specification.
Posthumous awards are the next named award for which a deceased student would have been eligible, based on the level of the programme they had entered, noting that if the student had entered level 6 of a Bachelor’s degree programme, they will be awarded a Bachelor’s degree with Honours. Posthumous awards are unclassified, unless the death of a student occurs after they have met all the requirements for the full target award on which they were enrolled. A research degree may be awarded posthumously on the basis of a thesis completed by a candidate, which is ready for submission for examination and where there is evidence that the candidate was likely to have been successful had the oral examination taken place.
Honorary awards are conferred in recognition of achievement by individuals of significant distinction. They are not - and should not be compared to - academic qualifications as described in section 2.1. Any Doctoral, Master’s or Bachelor’s degree offered as an academic award by the University may be conferred as an honorary award. Other awards may also be available as honorary conferments only, such as Doctor of the University (HonDUniv). The procedure for nominating honorary award recipients is overseen by the Honorary Conferments Committee.