Confirm the route before you plan.
Enquiry and guidance only. Appropriate higher education provider, degree-awarding and assessment arrangements must be confirmed. Avenor is not presented as an independently authorised substitute for the required integrated degree arrangements.
Checked 19 October 2026: version 1.2 is approved for delivery. This is a degree-apprenticeship with integrated degree and occupational assessment requirements. Higher education provider, degree-awarding and register requirements must be confirmed for any proposed partnership.
View the official standard and assessment plan ↗What this occupation demonstrates
A degree apprenticeship connecting broad technology understanding with a chosen professional specialism. The current standard includes software engineering, IT consultancy, business analysis, cyber security, computing data analysis and network engineering options. A useful preparation approach connects technical delivery to the needs of a real organisation: what problem was worth solving, which constraints mattered and how the solution was evaluated. Degree integration makes the partnership model particularly important. This page supports informed enquiries; it does not offer Avenor as a standalone substitute for the required higher education arrangements.
Higher education providers and employers considering a degree assessment partnership across one of the six professional options.
- Connect technical choices to business requirements, constraints and user needs.
- Explain the apprentice’s contribution within a substantial collaborative technology project.
- Demonstrate professional judgement in the selected occupational option.
Prepare for a fair assessment
Use the applicable plan as your starting point. The following are preparation prompts, rather than additional gateway requirements or a substitute for the assessment specification.
- Agree the chosen option, degree integration and assessment responsibilities with the higher education provider before planning a service. Confirm who has authority for the degree and apprenticeship assessment.
- Select project examples that show both technical depth and a clear line to organisational value. Maintain evidence of choices, feedback, testing and the apprentice’s own responsibility.
- Practise explaining the same project to a technical reviewer and a business sponsor. The detail should change for the audience without changing the facts or overstating personal ownership.
Plan a useful handover.
Treat this as a partnership procurement involving the higher education provider, employer and any proposed assessment organisation. First document the chosen option, degree-awarding responsibility, quality responsibilities, learner registration route and which party owns each decision. Ask for a single operating model from enrolment through completion, including evidence exchange, academic and occupational decision boundaries, complaints, data handling and continuity. A general digital assessment capability statement is insufficient, and no proposal should imply that Avenor can replace the required higher education arrangement.
A realistic evidence conversation
Illustrative, not a prescribed requirement: a software engineering apprentice leads a bounded service improvement within a larger programme. The record links user need, architecture choices, code and testing decisions, stakeholder feedback, measured effect and the apprentice's personal contribution. The university confirms how the work aligns with its degree requirements while the employer approves the sanitised evidence. Use the scenario to test who owns academic judgement, occupational assessment, moderation, evidence custody and learner communication when one piece of work contributes to more than one decision.
Handover checks
- Higher education lead confirms degree-awarding, registration and integrated assessment responsibilities in writing.
- Option lead maps curriculum, workplace opportunity and evidence ownership to the registered route.
- Partnership manager records data flows, decision rights, escalation paths and continuity arrangements.
Questions to ask before buying
- Which party makes each academic and occupational decision, and how can a learner challenge it?
- How will shared evidence be transferred, retained and made available if the partnership changes?
- What verified higher education and assessment arrangements must exist before any cohort is accepted?
Think it through.
Explain your decisions.
These are original learning prompts. They are not live assessment questions, an official mock paper or a prediction of your result.
1. A technically elegant solution does not solve the users’ main problem. How would you respond?
Explore a response structure
Describe how you would revisit the original requirement, observe the user workflow and compare alternatives. Consider the cost of changing direction and the risk of continuing. Explain how you would seek agreement rather than defending an implementation solely because it is sophisticated.
2. How would you demonstrate your own contribution in a project involving several specialist teams?
Explore a response structure
Identify decisions, artefacts and outcomes you personally owned. Explain dependencies and where you relied on others’ expertise. Acknowledge limitations honestly and show how collaboration influenced the final solution.
3. What evidence would make a technology investment recommendation persuasive?
Explore a response structure
Start with a measurable problem, compare feasible options and set out cost, risk, usability and operational implications. Propose realistic success measures and a review point. Distinguish an anticipated benefit from a benefit already measured in use.
Questions about this standard
Can a provider simply outsource this as a normal EPA booking?
The current degree-apprenticeship plan requires appropriate higher education and assessment arrangements and alignment of degree outcomes with occupational competence. Establish the permitted partnership model and responsibilities before agreeing any assessment service.
Which assessment methods apply?
Use the published assessment plan for the apprentice’s registered version and option. Methods, timings, gateway documents and grading rules can differ between versions. These original practice prompts are learning resources, not live assessment questions or a prediction of an assessment outcome.
Can we book with Avenor?
This is a degree partnership enquiry route. Appropriate higher education, degree-awarding and assessment arrangements must be confirmed before any service can be offered.
Sources and review
Guide updated 20 October 2026; official source reviewed 20 October 2026. Standard titles, versions and requirements can change. Always check the linked official record for the apprentice’s start date.
Skills England: Digital and Technology Solutions Professional ↗2,350 starts in 2023/24, published in the ICT-related apprenticeship data. Historic starts inform our portfolio; they do not establish today’s demand or our availability.