Higher Skills

The financial services sector is a wide ranging industry with training and qualification needs at all levels. Parts of the industry have a high proportion of employees with higher skills needs including training and qualifications at undergraduate, post-graduate and professional levels,(mainly qualification levels 4-8).

Foundation degrees

To meet the higher skills needs, the National Skills Academy for Financial Services (NSAFS) has been developing and designing foundation degrees in partnership with regional and national employers.

A foundation degree is a modern, vocational higher education qualification which combines study with learning in the work place. At qualification level five, it is both equivalent to completing the first two years study of a bachelor degree and a qualification in its own right. It is an excellent stepping stone towards a full honours degree or further professional qualifications and can support the industry in developing in-house talent.

NSAFS foundation degrees in financial services are offered at:

• City of Bristol College with University of Plymouth
• City College Norwich with University of East Anglia
• Leeds City College with Leeds Metropolitan University
• York College with Leeds Metropolitan University
• nationally through the Open University

Jake Thorogood, Student Marsh/City College Norwich Jake says ‘We do two days placement at the NSAFS and two days placement at work. We are learning straight away the theory behind the financial services industry at the NSAFS. And then it feels like you are putting it in place when you go to work. It’s like a tennis rally really – you learn the theory at the NSAFS and take it to work and there’s a constant reinforcement of knowledge. Whereas if you were to, say, go away and do a degree somewhere else in a different part of the country, you would be learning an awful lot of knowledge and just the theory and then you have to wait three years before you can go and get a job within the organisation or the business you want to go into, so there is no way you could have the same experience.’

Professional qualifications

Professional qualifications are important to a highly professional and regulated industry. NSAFS works with the main professional institutes to ensure access to appropriate qualifications, both through solutions to improve skills level of the existing workforce to meet the challenges of product innovation and regulatory changes.

The NSAFS also focuses on bringing new talent to the industry by preparing young people and career changers for the industry through Apprenticeships, Advanced Apprenticeships, employability programmes, leadership and management programmes and professional industry specific qualifications.