This page summarises our findings from reviewing education providers and programmes in recent years.
It provides our view on professional entry requirements in admissions, including our regulatory requirements, and what we commonly see in programme delivery.
This information should be considered by education providers when developing new and existing programmes, linked to this area.
Our threshold requirements
- education providers ensure those who enter programmes have the prior skills and knowledge to be able to undertake the programme’s curriculum (SET 2.2); and
- there is an appropriate and effective process for assessing applicants’ prior learning and experience (SET 2.6).
We expect to see that academic and professional entry criteria are appropriate to the level and content of the programme, which in turn makes sure that learners are able to meet our requirements for registration once they have completed the programme. This may include education providers considering prior learning and experience as an alternative to defined entry requirements.
We understand professional body expectations when making judgements in this area, but do not hold programmes to these expectations, or apply them as a standard ourselves. Instead we use them as a reference point when making our own judgements about whether entry requirements enable applicants to undertake a programme’s curriculum.
Summary reflections
All education providers set their academic entry requirements at a level appropriate to the delivery of the programme. Requirements are different for different programmes based on a range of factors, including the academic level of the programme, the model of learning, and expectations of other organisations, such as professional bodies.
Education provider approaches
When setting their professional entry requirements, education providers consider a range of factors including:
- the programme’s curriculum and model of delivery;
- professional body expectations (where they had been set);
- for apprenticeship programmes, the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s profession-specific standards, including their English and Maths requirements; and
- education and Skills Funding Agency requirements.
For masters level programmes, education providers often require an undergraduate degree in a ‘related subject area’.
In addition to academic qualifications, education providers often require:
- relevant experience in a health and care related area, to ensure those applying understand the health and care sector and the profession being applied for;
- a personal statement, for example focusing on NHS values as outlined in the NHS Constitution; and
- for apprenticeship programmes, a reference from the applicant’s employer.
Education providers also consider alternative arrangements for admissions, to widen access to a diverse range of potential learners. For example, education providers have policies in place to recognise prior learning and experience in the place of academic qualifications through recognition or accreditation of prior learning processes.
There are sometimes different pathways through programmes based on the prior skills, knowledge, experience and qualifications of applicants. This is normally when a particular group of learners is identified as being exempt from elements of the programme due to them already meeting competencies through prior work experience. In these cases, education providers have structures within their admissions processes to ensure individuals have the experience required to progress through a different pathway.
Education providers sometimes involve stakeholder groups, with membership including employers and service users and carers, to help define entry professional entry requirements.
Current sector focus and challenges
When proposing new apprenticeship programmes, where education providers already run programmes within the profession, there is usually alignment to academic entry requirements for the existing programme.
Areas commonly explored further through our assessments
For masters level programmes, education providers often require an undergraduate degree in a ‘related subject area’, but it was not always clear how they made judgements about what ‘related areas’ were. When this was not clear through submissions, we explored this further, and ensured this was more clearly written into requirements for applicants and staff applying requirements.