The University of Staffordshire has secured a new six-year contract with the British Army, as the institution revealed it has helped develop more than 10,000 public sector professionals since 2018.
The contract will see the university deliver Level 6 Leadership and Management apprenticeship training to more than 700 Army personnel, extending a partnership that has supported workforce development across the Army for the past five years. Programmes are designed to support both individual learners and wider organisational objectives.
The latest contract forms part of a broader programme of public sector workforce development that has seen the university work with 77 employer partners across defence, policing, healthcare and local government.
Since 2018/19, the university has delivered 4,721 apprenticeship starts and a further 5,359 undergraduate and postgraduate places for Ministry of Defence personnel. The work has generated around £101million in public sector apprenticeship revenue.
Employer partners include 46 NHS trusts, four police forces, eight local authorities, the National Crime Agency, the Met Office and the UK Health Security Agency.
Professor Philip Plowden, Interim Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive at the university, said: “Public services depend on skilled, confident, highly trained people and universities have a responsibility to help develop them.
“At Staffordshire, our commitment to public sector workforce development is not peripheral to what we do; it is central to our mission. These figures reflect a decade of genuine partnership with employers who trust us to deliver, and to keep delivering.
“The recommissioning of our British Army contract is a mark of that trust, and we are proud of everything that has been built over the past five years. There is much more to do, and we look forward to the next chapter.”
The University recently celebrated 10 years as a higher and degree-level apprenticeship provider and is now one of the five largest apprenticeship providers in the UK. Its apprenticeship provision was rated ‘strong’ by Ofsted in two key areas following an inspection earlier this year.
