Despite scoring top A-level grades earlier this year, Gideon Caller turned down a place at London University – instead he started an apprenticeship at tax consultants PwC, allowing him to work towards degree-equivalent qualifications whilst earning a salary of around £20k a year. "It's a pathway that allows me to go straight into employment, unlike my friends, without accumulating a £30,000-plus debt," he says.
The government's Plan for Growth strategy, published last year, set out its intention to create more opportunities like this, as part of long-term plans to encourage economic growth. Boosted by a £25m government Higher Apprenticeship Fund, more than 19,000 new higher apprenticeship places have been created and plans for apprenticeships at level 6 (degree level) and 7 (master's degree level) are well under way.
New programmes are being developed in areas as diverse as legal services, aviation and space engineering, and the first master's degree level apprenticeship in accountancy, delivered by PwC, will soon be available. This increase in the range of apprenticeships on offer should help employers address skills gaps in shortage areas, such as science and technology.
Significant payback
Like PwC, the consumer goods company Unilever is a long-standing enthusiast for apprenticeships and has recently recruited 12 higher apprentices on to its research and development department – traditionally "a hard occupational area to recruit into", according to the firm's apprenticeships project manager, Hazel Elderkin. The apprentices, who all have A-levels, will learn on the job while studying for degrees in science and engineering. While hiring and training apprentices is a big investment for the company, the payback is considerable, says Elderkin: "If you give them [the apprentices] a project to work on, they come up with ideas that pay back a significant part of the investment."
And it's not just large enterprises that are welcoming higher apprenticeships, says David Pollard, chairman of education, skills and business support portfolio at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB): "There are a lot of accountants, lawyers and management consultants in small businesses, and the higher apprenticeship gives them a route to recruit people to train as auditors, accountants and consultants." Pollard believes that apprentices can provide a lot of value to a small business: "You get an opportunity to train the person to work the way your company needs them to work, and at the same time they are acquiring skills that will make them an asset to the business."
Training providers are already working closely with employers to meet increased demand. Loughborough College is offering higher apprenticeships in accountancy for the first time, enabling two apprentices at local accountancy practices to gain their level 4 Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) qualification. Employers have been very understanding about the demands of studying for the qualification, and have accommodated requests for students to spend a little more time in college when preparing for a particular examination. Combining practical work experience with college study can work really well, says Keeley Tongue, an accounting lecturer at the college, who visits the students in the workplace every six-to-eight weeks: "My two students are in practice, so they can just go and ask somebody else in their own workplace, 'I'm practising for this exam, I can't get this figure.'"
For employers, an added bonus is the increased loyalty they can expect to see from apprentices. "If you take on a graduate who's got the high-level skills and with it the high-level debt from paying for their university tuition, they are much more likely to be saying, 'When I've got 12 or 18 months' experience here I can move on to another company with a higher grade of job and earn more money so I can pay off my debts,'" says Pollard. An apprentice who has gained their qualification while working for the business, however, is more likely to see themselves as a member of the team and to continue "developing their skills with the business", he says.
Meanwhile, Caller says he doesn't regret choosing work over university one bit: "By the time my friends have finished university, I hope already to be a qualified tax adviser, to have earned three years of a competitive salary and gained work experience for a top firm."
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