Higher Technical Qualifications: provider delivery toolkit
This toolkit is designed to support providers in their delivery of Higher Technical Education, through the sharing of good practice and highlighting the benefits of offering an approved Higher Technical Qualification.
Applies to England
This toolkit is designed to support providers in their delivery of Higher Technical Education, through the sharing of good practice and highlighting the benefits of offering an approved Higher Technical Qualification.
What are Higher Technical Qualifications?
Please watch our Welcome to Higher Technical Qualifications (HTQs) video, which gives an introduction to HTQs. Please feel free to link to this video in your local communications, marketing and social media materials and share with any partners who will find this useful.
HTQs are either new or existing Level 4 and 5 qualifications (such as HNDs/Foundation Degrees/Diploma HE) that have been approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) as meeting occupational standards for the relevant sector. These are the same set of standards that are the foundation of apprenticeships and T Levels.
The qualifications have been developed by awarding bodies in collaboration with employers and businesses. The benefit of studying an approved HTQ is that the knowledge, skills and behaviours that a student will learn and acquire have been identified by employers. This means that on completion of their course, learners will be ready to enter employment or to progress within their chosen occupation or sector. It will also provide a high-quality option for all learners looking to progress from A Levels, T Levels or apprenticeships.
They are largely classroom based, giving the opportunity for practical skills to be learnt in an education setting, through workshops and simulated work environments for example. Flexible classroom learning will also make higher technical skills accessible to workers at different stages of their career. HTQs are different to apprenticeships which combine practical training in a job with study.
The first teaching of approved HTQs will be from September 2022, starting with Digital, then Construction and Health and Science in 2023, with full roll-out over a four-year period.
- Find out more about Higher Technical Qualifications
- How to get a qualification approved as a Higher Technical Qualification
- Timelines for future cycles of qualification approval
- Which qualifications have been approved as Higher Technical Qualifications so far
If you have questions about the HTQs approvals process or want more information, please contact IfATE on HTQ.approvals@education.gov.uk.
Higher Technical Education Skills Injection Fund 2022 to 2023
We have now launched the HTE Skills Injection Fund, the HTE Provider Growth Fund’s successor. This will provide up to £32m of funding to support providers in delivering high quality technical L4/5 qualifications. This includes the flagship HTQs routes in:
- Digital (September 2023 delivery)
- Construction (September 2023 delivery)
- Health and Science (September 2023 delivery)
and
- Business and Administration (September 2024 delivery)
- Education and Childcare (September 2024 delivery)
- Engineering and Manufacturing (September 2024 delivery)
- Legal (September 2024 delivery)
- Finance and Accounting (September 2024 delivery)
The purpose of the fund is to help providers invest in industry-standard equipment and develop the business links they need to offer first-rate training that will meet the growing employer demand for skills in these sectors.
The Skills Injection Fund is comprised of:
- Capital (up to) £22m - to be spent on:
- Specialist equipment
- Perpetual software license costs
- Resource (up to) £10m – to be spent on:
- · Supporting and upskilling teaching and technical staff
- · Developing local employer partnerships to support learners
- · Supporting curriculum planning and development
- · Promoting and raising awareness of Higher Technical Education
We are also delighted to announce the qualifications that have been successfully approved as HTQs in cycle 2, which cover qualifications in the Construction, Health and Science and Digital routes. Approved qualifications can be viewed on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education website.
To reduce the burden on providers, we will be allocating the funding via a funding formula, based on predicted learner numbers.
The closing date to apply is 5 October. Further information on the eligibility criteria and how providers can apply can be found on GOV.UK.
Getting ready to deliver Higher Technical Qualifications
To support providers to offer high quality higher technical courses, we want them to have access to industry standard facilities and equipment, teachers with relevant industrial experience and to broker strong links with employers. To that end, in 2021 we launched an £18 million Growth Fund through which we are supporting almost 100 further education (FE) and higher education (HE) providers to get ready for teaching HTQs. The funding was awarded to successful providers to help them invest in new equipment that will support them to expand technical studies, and boost high-quality training opportunities with businesses in areas including Digital, Health and Science, and Construction.
The full list of successful 2021-22 Provider Growth Fund applicants can be found below.
We are also providing further funding up to 2025 to support providers with the upfront investments required to roll out HTQs, as a high-quality offer at levels 4 and 5, through a further iteration of the Growth Fund. Further details on this will be announced in due course.
Provider showcase
If you have any materials you would like to showcase as you prepare to teach HTQs from September 2022 onwards, please get in touch at Team.HIGHERTECHNICALEDUCATION@education.gov.uk.
The Greater Manchester Colleges Group (GMCG), a collaboration between nine FE colleges, are working together in a consortium to offer Digital HTQs across Greater Manchester. Take a look at their:
Provider-led suggestions
Providers have shared the below examples of how they intend to get ready to offer HTQs. This information has been gathered through our engagement with Institutes of Technology, Higher Education, Further Education and independent training providers via surveys, webinars, focus groups and Provider Growth Fund applications.
We are keen to make sure these products remain relevant to providers and that they are regularly updated by those offering HTQs. Please get in touch with the Higher Technical Education team on team.highertechnicaleducation@education.gov.uk if you would like to share your examples/case studies.
Please note, these are not DfE/ESFA recommendations, but are examples of the types of activities and capital purchases you might want to consider.
Quotes from our providers about why they will be offering Higher Technical Qualifications
Bedford College
We are going to offer HTQs from 2022 in Digital and build upon this into Construction to launch in 2023. We have undertaken the route of HTQs as we believe they have considered skills gaps and the needs of our employers.
By aligning to the technical standards, the HTQs will provide a wider technical training to include skills, knowledge and behaviours associated with the industry and therefore learners studying for a higher technical qualification will be better equipped to join the workforce. The HTQ qualifications are recognised by industry and offer parity with traditional academic qualifications usually obtained by learners attending university. We feel that learners studying and achieving a HTQ will therefore be highly valued by employers.
In order to prepare for delivery of HTQs we are investing in staff training and upskilling. We have undertaken workforce planning exercises to model staffing skills gaps we may face in the future. Where gaps exist, we are investing in staff to upskill and retrain to ensure our staff have the most up to date industry and academic knowledge to deliver the HTQs.
In addition, we are ensuring that our facilities are in line with industry standards in order to ensure our learners and our employer partners can access and train on equipment relevant to the current industry standards.
Newcastle College University Centre
Having the HTQ badge against our courses is a great benefit as it is an extra set of external verification to prospective students and employers that our courses are aligned with industry needs and will equip our students with the correct sets of skills and behaviours that are needed in industry, making our graduates stand out and giving them the best opportunity to be successful in their career choices.
Nelson and Colne College Group
The opportunity to offer HTQs is a real advancement for our sector, for our students and our employers. It creates a base for strong working relationships with local employers and exciting high-tech research.
Solihull College & University Centre
At Solihull College & University centre, we agree that there is a need and opportunity for more young people and adults to be undertaking Higher Technical Qualifications. We are working with awarding bodies and employers to design HTQs to meet skills gaps at levels 4 and 5. We believe in Higher Education that enhances the employability outcomes for our learners; this could be upskilling and retraining staff.
Our goals are to deliver HTQs that are high-value choice for individuals and bring further diversity to our existing Higher Education offer.
Engaging with employers
We want to support providers to offer high quality higher technical courses and develop close links with employers. The benefit of an approved HTQ is that it provides the skills that employers need. Collaboration between providers and local employers to design and/or deliver the curriculum will ensure that the HTQs on offer reflect local needs and that employers will have access to the qualified workforce they require.
Employers can sign up for the following events:
- Health and Science, 09:30 to 11:00 Wednesday 3 November
- Digital, 11:00 to 12:35 Wednesday 1 December
- Apprenticeship Ambassadors, 11:00 to 12:35 Tuesday 25 January
Use of quality mark
We have developed a HTQs quality mark to be used prominently and clearly, as a vital part of our strategy to promote this new option to potential students.
Through the quality mark, we want to:
- promote approved HTQs
- raise awareness of the HTQs programme amongst potential students, employers and the general public
- signal the employer value these courses offer
For more information about how you can use the quality mark and to download the logo, please see the branding guidelines on our HTQs page.
Have your say
We want to keep our conversation with providers going to ensure that this content remains up to date and as useful as possible. We are particularly interested to hear your views on the following questions, but please get in touch with the team on team.highertechnicaleducation@education.gov.uk for any related enquiries:
- What’s working well as you prepare to teach HTQs?
- Is there anything you’d like to share with other providers regarding the delivery of HTQs?
- What do you want to know about how other providers are getting ready to deliver HTQs?
- What resources or contacts would help you?
- Do you have any other questions about delivering HTQs?
Communications resources
Last updated
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We have added information on the launch of the Higher Technical Education Skills Injection Fund.
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We've added a section titled 'Provider showcase' containing information for any provider that wishes to showcase materials.
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We have added additional communication resources to the toolkit.
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Revised list of successful applicants for the 2021 to 2022 Provider Growth Fund added to the page.
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First published.