Learning through Work for your staff

Learning through Work is specially designed to meet the needs of the employee and the employer. It allows you to develop the skills of your staff at a higher level through relevant work-based projects which are validated by a university. Because Learning through Work is work-based you can provide customised higher level learning for your staff without them having to take time away from work to attend university or college.

Learning through Work is not a set course but a framework that enables learning to be structured around work - it can lead to a full university qualification such as a degree, a postgraduate diploma or masters degree or individual modules can be developed to address specific areas. Assessment is based on real workplace development activities such as projects, quality systems, leadership and management initiatives, and the development of protocols and technical processes. This means employees can start to put into practice what they have learnt almost immediately.

Because Learning through Work is largely managed and supported online you can work with a university or college that best suits your business needs rather than the one that is geographically closest. This also means that if you have a dispersed operation with a group of employees working in different areas of the country (or even overseas) they can still work together on a programme that has been developed for them.

Learning through Work can help your business to:

• Become more competitive by developing your staff so they have the high-level skills your business needs.
• Minimise the need for employees to take time out of work to attend university or college.
• Develop modules, or full qualifications, using projects that directly relate to the real development needs of your business.
• Design a custom-built and unique learning programme that can lead to a university-level qualification for your staff.
• Reward staff by taking an interest in their personal and professional development, which in return can help with succession planning and staff retention.

Key Benefits
One of the unique features of Learning through Work is that a learning plan can often be tailored for any number of people. An individual can develop a completely personalised programme in a specialist area for example, or a group programme can be customised for a few key staff or for a larger group.

Learning can take place at any time throughout the year. You don’t have to work within traditional term or semester patterns.

Organisations have worked with our university and college partners to develop programmes meeting a variety of needs and contexts including changes in the workplace, leadership and management skills, induction and professional development, advanced specialist skills, new initiatives and changing roles.

The programmes are made up of modules and vary in terms of length and level. Each module carries a credit rating. For instance, a 30 credits award can be completed in a matter of months, full awards take longer and lead to qualifications at undergraduate and postgraduate levels including degrees. Prior learning can, in some instances, be taken into account and employees can also top-up previous qualifications, such as HNDs.

The customised nature of Learning through Work means that your staff can develop skill sets specific to your business needs. In the case of group programmes you start by discussing your requirements with a university or college representative and together you can identify the area(s) you wish to focus on and from there formulate an appropriate programme. 

As the online framework is a key feature of Learning through Work, attendance at a university or college is not normally a requirement. Tutor support is provided interactively online although face-to-face sessions can also be arranged if appropriate.