Are you a student thinking about a hands on alternative to university?

Meet four inspirational higher and degree apprentices who are working in marketing, law, construction and pharmaceutical research.

Higher and Degree Apprenticeships

·        Degree Apprenticeships are a new type of programme offered by some Universities since September 2015.

·        These Programmes are being developed by employer, universities and professional bodies working in partnership. They offer students the opportunity to achieve a full bachelor’s or master’s degree as part of their apprenticeships.

·        Higher/Degree apprenticeships combine working with studying part time at a university. Apprentices are employed throughout the programme, and spend part of their time at university and the rest with their employer. This can be on a day-to-day basis or in blocks of time, depending on the programme and requirement of the employer.

Degree apprenticeship are new, so there are only a limited number of vacancies will grow over the next year or two, so if you decide a degree apprenticeship is the right choice for you, here are some tips to help you do your research.

·        Check out the range and number of vacancies being advertised in the area(s) you’re interested in. Check on a regular basis so you can get an idea of the availability of opportunities relevant to your interests.

·        What is the timeframe from the vacancy being advertised to the application deadline and apprenticeship start date? This will give you an idea of how you need to prepare, and how quickly you will need to apply.

What’s available?

You can now use UCAS’s career finder tool to see details of a number of new higher and degree apprenticeship vacancies. These are all being advertised by a small group of employers who are keen to recruit early, well in advance of their start date of September 2017 or later, providing you will have time to consider all your post-18 options.

To find out more about higher and degree apprenticeship in England, use this link to log on website and click on the name of each apprenticeships to go to its approved apprenticeship standard, which sets out what an apprentice will be doing and the skills required of them on completion of the apprenticeship.

https://www.ucas.com/ucas/undergraduate/getting-started/apprenticeships-uk/degree-and-professional-apprenticeships. See some examples:-

How to they work:-

·        Apprentices will complete an assessment at the end of the programme, which tests both academic learning and occupational competence developed through on-the-job training

The programme can be structured in one of two ways:

a)   Employers, universities and professional bodies come together to co-design a fully-integrated degree course specifically for apprentices, which delivers and tests both academic learning and on-the-job training. This may be the preferred approach for many sectors, as the learning is seamless and it doesn’t require a separate assessment of occupational competence.

b)   Alternatively, sectors may wish to use existing degree programmes to deliver the academic knowledge requirements of that profession. They would then combine this with additional training to meet the full apprenticeship training requirements, and separate test of full occupational competence at the end of the programme. In either case, degree earned via this route will be awarded by Universities and will be of an equivalent standard to degree taken via the full time undergraduate route.

What are the Benefit of an Apprenticeship.

·        Apprentices are employed and paid a wage throughout the course

·        Apprentices will gain a full degree (Bachelor’s or Master’s) without needing to pay student fees

·        Apprentices will gain a head start in their chosen profession.

·        It will allow apprentices to acquire the graduate/postgraduate level skills they need.

·        Employers can attract new talent – school leaver who are keen to earn a degree in a work-based environment

·        Training costs are co-funded by the government and the employers

How do they differ from Sandwich degree and work placement.

·        Degree apprenticeships build on the existing models of sandwich degree (spending a year in industry) and work placements (doing industry placements in term time or holidays), but differ in several key ways:

·        Degree apprentices are employed throughout and are doing paid work from day one

·        Degree apprentices are likely to have a greater attachment to their employer, and already being employed means they are more likely to stay with that company afterwards. Retention rates for apprentices can exceed 80%