As part of its wider aim to improve the skills of the UK workforce, Ufi has offered £2.1 million in funding for projects which use digital technology to change how vocational learning is developed and delivered.
The project – which include app-based training, micro-learning approaches and VR training simulations – will help widen access to vocational learning.
Schemes receiving funding include:
– Sara Dunn Associates Micro-learning for care workers 

– National Numeracy Digital solutions to improve numeracy in the workplace 

– The Open University An open-access online platform that helps learners develop network 
engineering skills 

– Sussex Downs College Online learning platform that awards digital badges as learners 
develop new vocational skills 

– National Skills Academy for Rail Mobile, video and app-led learning for rail roles requiring 
digital skills 

– Kinderly Personalised bite-sized training matched to the individual’s professional 
development needs 

– Bridgwater and Taunton College Real-world and virtual reality workplace simulations 
providing experiential training for the nuclear sector 

– WhiteHat Machine learning to support employee-apprentice matching and reduce 
apprentice drop-out rates 

Rebecca Garrod-Waters, Ufi CEO, said: “We are delighted to be launching a group of projects which are maximising the opportunity provided by digital tech to really change how vocational learning is developed and delivered. We believe that these new and novel approaches to workplace learning have the potential to raise skills levels for large numbers of learners – either in the workplace or by helping adults into work through gaining job specific skills. The scalability of the tech will ensure that the tools developed by the VocTech Impact projects will not just benefit those trialling the training, but will demonstrate the value of digital solutions to a much wider audience.”