Project Evaluation

Tender description

Higher quality, higher level Apprenticeships based on employer-driven standards are at the core of the current government's commitment to drive up skills and productivity, and the government remains committed to an ambitious target of 3 million Apprenticeship starts by 2020. However, standards currently available and in development for the maritime sector, do not yet completely cover the skills needs of businesses. The Maritime SuperSkills project is a replicable, scalable model that, if successful, could be adopted by other Local Economic Partnership (LEP) regions and other industry sectors to accelerate the development of standards with national relevance to service employer demand for relevant occupational standards in the post-Apprenticeship Levy period. Both Government departments[1] and the Federation for Industry Sector Skills & Standards (website) have expressed their interest in learning from experience of working with employer Trailblazer groups to continually improve knowledge and processes. As the project is very much part of a larger, national agenda and programme of activity, an independent evaluation of the Maritime SuperSkills project could yield useful guidance for both policy makers and practitioners, in terms of capturing lessons learned and identifying best practice for others looking to adopt this approach in the near future. External independent evaluation of the project will be procured in line with European Social Fund (ESF) procurement guidelines via the University's procurement procedures. An end-term evaluation will be used to report progress and identify areas for improvement, and will address the following: • Project impact and benefit. • The effectiveness of the activity in achieving the project's objectives. • Lessons learned during the project. • Recommendations to inform future activity. LJMU on behalf of the project consortium of partners is seeking a supplier who can provide this Project Evaluation.