News Archive

12.11.14

Apprenticeship Scheme Approval Assessors Needed

The Nuclear Institute are looking for more volunteers to join our panel of assessors for approval of apprenticeship schemes against Technician Membership and the Nuclear Delta.

Our collaboration project with the National Skills Academy for Nuclear (NSAN) is going very well and we have a number of employers keen to have their apprenticeship scheme approved by the Nuclear Institute.

Through our collaboration the NI’s professional standard, known as the Nuclear Delta, is applied to joint NI/NSAN approval of training and professional development programmes, including apprenticeships. By applying a common, independently defined standard to programmes, we are enabling a shared, sector wide framework for developing nuclear professionalism. 

Volunteers will be carrying out the important task of assessing qualifications and applications against the set criteria. The work may demand time of between one hour to two days, possibly necessitating an overnight stay, but an honorarium of up to £150.00 may be agreed in advance for activities such as site visits.

NI Member David Jury has experienced many benefits of volunteering as an assessor member. He said: "The main reason that I like to volunteer for the NI approval panel is that I feel passionately about young people getting into engineering, particularly in the nuclear industry. 

"At a time when all they hear about is a lack of jobs for graduates and the cost of university, it is nice to promote an industry where we desperately need new talent; where there is work for decades in the future; where there are many graduate opportunities; and where if you choose the right apprenticeship scheme there is the potential for paid training of the highest quality and, depending on your own ambitions, the potential to be paid to study a degree later on in your career.

"From a selfish point of view the NI assessor role is interesting because I get to visit sites which I would not normally visit, and find out a bit about what they do.  It is also interesting to learn about apprentice schemes, having come from a University route into engineering.  Last but not least, I get to meet other NI members that I may not normally meet."

If you are a Professional Member of the Nuclear Institute and registered as a Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer or Engineering Technician and would like to volunteer, read the role description below and contact Anna Wright with any queries.

Find out if your organisation’s apprenticeship schemes can be approved or if a scheme you are on has been approved.

Assessing Volunteer Role Descriptor