Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

It would be a fascinating principle to apply to universities. The proposition that we should know that someone has a first class degree but not know which university it came from would startle us all. It is immensely important that the name of the FE college should be on the certificate—it is the motivation for the FE college to do its job well. An FE college is known by the quality of the people who have been through its apprenticeship schemes—this is the way many FE colleges work. They are immensely proud of the quality of their graduates, maintain a strong relationship with the industry and are known to be great places to train as this, that or the other. That sort of reputation is the motivation for FE colleges to do well, and to continue to do well. It is essential that the FE college brand should be on an apprenticeship certificate; that someone should be known by the FE college that they have been to; and that the FE college should be known by the quality of its graduates. Something else that appears to be missing from the certificate is a date. If the certificate is to be of any value, it must be something that can be checked. If you present a certificate that just says, "Ralph Lucas has this apprenticeship", where does it get you? There are plenty of Ralph Lucases in the world. You do not know where it comes from, there is no one obvious to check it with—and even if you did, they would ask, "When?" and you would not be able to answer. There must be something on the certificate that enables it to be validated by an employer. A date and the name of the FE college would do it. If the sector skills councils are going to keep records, fine—but the certificate must still have a date. However, I come back to where I started: it is of immense value to have the FE college on the certificate. It is good for the person who has done the apprenticeship, particularly if they have been to an FE college with a good reputation. Many of these colleges have nationwide reputations in particular sectors. It is very good for FE colleges to be able to be known by their students in this way.