Apprenticeships Checklist

Systems Engineering Level 7 Apprenticeship

Find out more about the application process for the Systems Engineering Master's Degree Apprenticeship including an Apprenticeship Checklist and contacts for you if you have any additional questions or queries.

Please note that the Systems Engineering Apprenticeship is only open to candidates from companies which have access to the English Apprenticeship Levy.

In order for your Employer to be Eligible for the Apprenticeship Levy so that you can benefit from this in the form of an Apprenticeship, your employer must:

  • Have an annual pay bill of more than £3 million for employees (which are subject to employer class 1 secondary national insurance contributions) or be connected to companies or charities for employment allowance of which the annual pay bill is more than £3 million
  • Have employed more than 50 employees over the last 365 days
  • Confirm all employees are resident in England
  • Have set up a Digital Apprenticeship Service Levy Account and are paying Levy contributions to the English Apprenticeship Fund

In addition, as an Apprentice you would also need to spend at least 50% of your regular, planned working hours (known at the start of the apprenticeship) in England.

Please speak with your Apprenticeship Manager, Line Manager, Training Manager or other similar authority in your organisation to look into this and to ask them to review and complete the Employer Eligibility Checklist (if they have not done so already) to ascertain if they meet the criteria.

Once this is established and the form completed we will need to touch base with the contact dealing with the Apprenticeships within your organisation so that you can be formally nominated and so that the contractual requirements for your company - including a Training Needs Analysis and a Training Services Agreement can be established.

Please have them contact wsapprenticeships@lboro.ac.uk with their completed copy of the Employer Eligibility Checklist to take this forward.

Step 1 - Application

To ensure a smooth applicant journey we recommend that you begin your application no later than two weeks before the application deadlines.

Our Apprenticeship starts in October, the last date on which we guarantee to consider applications submitted is usually the first Monday of September – For the 2024/2025 Academic year, this would be 2nd September 2024.

The documents required to support your application are as follows:

  1. A copy of your undergraduate degree certificate. If you do not hold an undergraduate degree we can review your professional industry experience against the programme requirements. You will just need to discuss your experience with the Programme Leader - Professor Henshaw. Please e-mail us to arrange a MS Teams meeting: wsapprenticeships@lboro.ac.uk.
  2. An academic transcript showing the modules studied and marks attained for your undergraduate degree
  3. A personal statement which should briefly explain your motivation for studying this programme (this may have been captured during the internal selection process at your organisation).
  4. A copy of your current passport
  5. An employer reference on letter-headed paper and if possible one from your former education establishment (if this is not possible please do let us know)
  6. Relevant certificates for your Level 2 English Language and Mathematics qualifications (usually GCSE or equivalent)
    If you do not have evidence of your GCSE English Language and/or Mathematics but have an equivalent level of qualification, they may be accepted and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
    If you do not have any evidence available or cannot request them from an awarding body, you will be required to undertake functional skills assessment(s) within the first year of the apprenticeship.

Please start your application as soon as possible to allow sufficient time to complete the application requirements.

To apply you will need to register and create an online account via the application portal. Once registered, you will be able to save, review and track your progress. The application process consists of 11 sections and will take approximately 25 minutes to complete.

You should specify that you are wishing to apply for a taught master’s programme and ensure that you have selected the Systems Engineering (Apprenticeship applications only) (Part Time) from the available programmes list.

Please note that you can upload your application even if you do not have all the document requirements to hand. We can only see your application once it has been fully uploaded. We require all relevant documentation before an offer can be made to you.

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Step 2 - Your Offer

Once we have received the required documentation your application will be considered by the University, and you will be notified of the outcome.

You will receive an email with an offer to study, which may be conditional or unconditional. If your offer is conditional, you will be required to provide further information or documentation to fulfil the application requirements and receive an unconditional offer.

You should respond to any offer as soon as possible by logging into your Online Application Portal Account. On the left-hand side of this window there will be a link which reads “Reply to Offer Details”.

Once your offer has been accepted the University will generate you a Student Number, which will be sent to you via the email stated on your application – you will then be able move onto Step 3.

Step 3 - Required Documentation

You will need to complete a number of documents prior to commencing the Apprenticeship. These documents include:

  1. The Apprenticeship Agreement
    This is a basic form that identifies your occupation, the standard you will be meeting, the duration of your apprenticeship and Off The Job (OTJ) training hours you will receive. 
  2. Apprentice Checklist and Declaration
    This form captures vital information about you that we may not obtain from anywhere else in the admissions process. The University needs this when reporting to the government to enable us to draw fees from the levy to support your apprenticeship. Please complete this and send it back to us, along with a copy of your contract of employment - this is to verify your contract status with your current organisation. If you are not allowed to share this, please contact us to discuss this further. We will then forward a PDF copy via Adobe Sign for you, your Workplace Apprenticeship Mentor and Line Manager to sign.
  3. Initial Assessment
    This document requires you and your Workplace Apprenticeship Mentor and Line Manager to evaluate your knowledge and skills against the apprenticeship standard (skills scan) and disclose any relevant prior learning or learning support requirements. This form will be evaluated to ascertain your current levels of knowledge and skills to ensure you are not undertaking or duplicating learning which you have already attained.

These documents are required as soon as possible, particularly document 3, the Individual Assessment. This document must be reviewed ahead of you starting your programme in a joint discussion with your Workplace Apprenticeship Mentor / Line Manager or similarly appointed Organisational contact and the Programme Director, Professor Michael Henshaw.

The Programme Administrator will send a Microsoft Teams meeting invite for the purposes of this meeting to take place before the Induction – if you and your Workplace Apprenticeship Mentor / Line Manager cannot meet with the Programme Director on the date specified we will try to accommodate another date in advance of the date, but this meeting must take place.

The assessment the Programme Director makes could confirm any exemptions or adjustments to your learning which would also alter the contractual and financial obligations to your employer. Our Programme Director must assess each apprentice in turn and liaise with your employer on any such exemption, so your early submission will be greatly appreciated.

If you could send these completed documents to wsspprenticeships@lboro.ac.uk titled “L7 Systems Engineering Apprenticeship Documents” as soon as possible we would be most appreciative.

Once all these documents are returned, we will be able to produce and send to you a prepopulated Training Plan which you and your Workplace Apprenticeship Mentor should review and sign as soon as possible and send back to us by 19th September 2024. We will then send this across for signature via Adobe Sign soon after.

To help understand the configuration of the modules, you can review the: Systems Engineering Programme Structure, Timetable and Module choices information.

A list of modules and their respective dates can be found on our Programme Structure, ‌please note this timetable is only for the Academic Year 2022/23, whilst we aim to keep module timetables the same year on year, modules may change dates or semesters in subsequent Academic Years. You are required to have a full plan in place at the outset, but please be reassured that this individual learning plan is subject to change, and we are flexible and accommodating to learner needs.

Please note you will automatically be enrolled onto the module “WSP762 - Applied Systems Thinking” as this will be your first compulsory module and will start in week 1 of Semester 2.

 

Step 4 - Induction

The Apprenticeships Team will send you a communication outlining the details of the induction including date time and location.

You will be expected to attend the programme induction in person, held at the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ campus – attendance is compulsory and should you not be able to attend you may need to defer your Application until the next Academic Year.

We ask that you forward the details of your induction to your Workplace Apprenticeship Mentor so that they can attend if they are able to. If they already mentor another º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ apprentice, they will not be required to attend. If this is their first foray into a º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Apprenticeship Programme and/or mentoring, it would be beneficial for them to attend as there will be specific information and training relevant to their understanding of the programme.

Where possible, inductions are scheduled on a Friday or Monday to be least disruptive to the working week of you and your Workplace Apprenticeship Mentor. There are accommodation options available on campus should you wish to stay overnight instead of travelling on the day.

The Induction for October 2023/24 starters will be held on Monday 16th September 2024. More details will be made available closer to the time.

Find out more about the accommodation options.

Step 5 - Registration

Please ensure that all communications sent to you via the University are reviewed as soon as possible in the lead up to the start of your programme. You will be emailed your IT credentials which will allow you to log into the University’s Virtual Learning environment – LEARN, your student email and more.

You will also be required to complete your registration to confirm your student enrolment on the programme – this will include uploading a photograph for your ID card, which you will be able to collect in your first week of teaching if you complete the registration in enough time.

Step 6 - Pre-Arrival

Please ensure you have your Commitment Statement available on the day, either on a personal device or in hardcopy.

Step 6 - The day before you arrive

Please ensure you have your Commitment Statement available on the day of the induction either on a personal device or in hardcopy, as you may choose to make adjustments based on the induction and it is nest to have a copy to hand.

Contact Us

If you are struggling with your application or have any questions about the programme, do feel free to contact us.

A head shot image of Kirsty McKeown

Kirsty McKeown

Apprenticeships Programme Administrator