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The latest announcements, press releases and media coverage from University Alliance.

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  1. ‘Delivering the Healthcare Workforce of the Future’: University Alliance publishes proposals to help tackle the NHS workforce crisis

    January 31, 2023

    University Alliance, an association of universities which collectively trains 30% of nurses in England, has today (31 January) published a briefing on ‘Delivering the Healthcare Workforce of the Future’. It comes at a time when the NHS is facing a workforce crisis, with over 130,000 vacancies in England and over 46,000 vacant nursing posts – a record high. A key challenge is the need to train more nurses more quickly to the same very high standar…

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    NHS Workforce

  2. Health and education leaders meet at summit to identify solutions to the NHS workforce crisis

    March 24, 2025

    Today (Monday 24 March), the University of Derby and University Alliance hosted a roundtable of national health and education leaders, with the aim of identifying ways to ensure the goals originally set out in the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan (2023) can be met. With over 100,000 vacancies in the NHS in England overall (including 27,452 in nursing), the roundtable took place ahead of an expected ‘refreshed’ workforce plan to be published by the go…

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  3. University Alliance’s submission to the Spending Review

    February 11, 2025

    University Alliance has made its submission to the Treasury ahead of this year’s Spending Review. Read UA’s full submission The submission highlights how professional and technical universities are critical to delivering the government’s decade of renewal, and focuses on three of the government’s missions: kickstarting economic growth, building an NHS fit for the future and breaking down the barriers to opportunity. Mindful of the extremely tight…

    Read more of: University Alliance’s submission to the Spending Review

  4. Barriers must be removed for degree apprenticeships to meet NHS workforce targets, new report says

    February 10, 2025

    A new report has identified several significant barriers to the expansion of degree apprenticeship routes to deliver the workforce targets as set out in the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan. To coincide with National Apprenticeship Week, University Alliance (UA) and the University of Derby has today (Monday 10 February) published a comprehensive report that explores the current enablers of and barriers to delivering healthcare apprenticeships. Read t…

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    Healthcare apprentice

  5. University Alliance publish asks ahead of 2024 Autumn Budget

    October 22, 2024

    University Alliance has published their budget submission to the Treasury, which was submitted on Tuesday 10 September, outlining their asks for the October 2024 Budget and 2025/26 Departmental Expenditure Limits. Three asks have been highlighted as part of the submission, with each ask accompanied by a policy recommendations and an explanation of the rationale and benefits. The three asks are: 1. Address financial shortfalls for higher education…

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  6. UA members awarded over £3million to expand healthcare degree apprenticeships

    October 2, 2024

    The Office for Students (OfS) has allocated over £3.3million to develop healthcare degree apprenticeships, as a result of a successful joint bid led by Middlesex University and supported by University Alliance (UA). The funding, worth £3,381,000, will allow a number of UA members to form the Healthcare Education Consortium. Collectively, they will coordinate the delivery of healthcare degree apprenticeships in order to meet the goals as set out i…

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  7. University Alliance release ‘Let’s Get Technical: The First 100 Days’ 

    July 26, 2024

    In a new publication, University Alliance has set out a range of impactful priority actions for the government to take in their first 100 days in power. UA’s latest policy briefing ‘Let’s Get Technical: The First 100 Days’ identifies policies that are cost-neutral or low-cost to deliver that could help professional and technical universities deliver the government’s agenda. In partnership with government and industry, University Alliance argue th…

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    'Let's Get Technical: The First 100 Days'

  8. UA joins call for closer departmental alignment between health and education

    June 26, 2024

    Along with the Council of Deans of Health and Million Plus, University Alliance has written to the next government, urging them to establish ‘closer departmental join-up’ to deliver the NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan. University Alliance and our colleagues are calling on the incoming government to encourage closer working between educators and departments on issues such as student recruitment, retention, placement provision and employment. As educa…

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  9. University groups call for cross-government health education taskforce

    February 19, 2024

    With the latest UCAS data showing applications are down for medicine, nursing and midwifery courses, leaders from the higher education sector are calling for a new taskforce to effectively deliver NHS England’s Long-Term Workforce Plan. In a jointly-written letter sent to the Secretaries of State for Education and Health, a coalition of university mission groups and educators have called on the government to convene a new ministerial taskforce to…

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  10. University Alliance responds to the latest UCAS application data

    February 15, 2024

    Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University Alliance, has commented in response to the latest UCAS application data, released today (15 January): On the decline of applications for public sector workforce courses, Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University Alliance, said: “The continued decline in applications for subjects like teaching, nursing and midwifery spell trouble for the future of our public sector. A concerted effort to reverse these trends will be requi…

    Read more of: University Alliance responds to the latest UCAS application data