On difficult days, degree apprentice Ashley Mutambarade, 19, might compare his lot unfavourably to friends who went to university. “Balancing work and university is the challenge,” he says. But he adds that the benefits of his career choice certainly outweigh any downsides.
He’s studying for a relatively new qualification – a degree apprenticeship – that will give him an honours degree while he works. Be Wiser Insurance pays him £20,000 a year, his university fees are covered, and he’ll be offered a management-level job on graduation. “By the age of 21, I’ll be earning £28,000 with a debt-free degree.”
Degree apprenticeships combine work, on-the-job learning and funded part-time university education. Employers, awarding bodies, universities and training providers all contribute to the development of degree apprenticeships, which must meet standard requirements and be approved by government. They comprise a combination of chunks of workplace learning, practical experience and separate study, and differ from other apprenticeships in that they offer a bachelor’s university degree.
All sizes of companies in England can take advantage of them and the government hopes numbers will grow among smaller companies: there are currently 1,000 degree apprenticeships in progress in England.
While Mutambarade’s degree apprenticeship subject is insurance, degree apprenticeships cover a range of sectors, from aerospace engineering through to digital technologies, retail, life sciences, financial services, even public relations. High-profile employers – including Airbus, Barclays, BT and many more – all offer degree apprenticeships. Existing employees can embark on these apprenticeships too, in order to raise their skills and develop further.
Cybersecurity, much in demand after some high-profile attacks on global businesses, is one of the options available on the digital and technology solutions degree apprenticeship offered by the Open University (OU). The OU is working with leading employers to provide apprenticeships, including a chartered manager degree apprenticeship. In the pipeline from the OU are also degree apprenticeships in nursing, accountancy and more.
“Employees must spend 20% of the working week doing off-the-job training,” says David Willett, director of corporate sales at the OU. “Doing a degree apprenticeship isn’t easy, but technology-enabled learning, like that delivered by the OU, provides more flexibility for the apprentice and their employer, making the apprenticeship more manageable.”
Most common in the UK currently are intermediate level apprenticeships (level 2) – which equate to a GCSE-level qualification. Advanced (level 3) apprenticeships equate to A-levels, while higher apprenticeships (spanning levels 4 to 7) offer the equivalent of foundation degrees through to master’s level degrees. Degree apprenticeships were only introduced by the government in 2015 and take up is expected to continue to grow over the next few years.
Entry requirements are flexible – 42% of graduate employers require A-levels for higher apprenticeships, while 50% require five or more GCSE-grades at C or above for advanced programmes.
Degree apprenticeships offer the highest level (level 6 to 7), and lead to a bachelor’s or in some cases a master’s degree – the OU plans to launch master’s level apprenticeships in leadership and management, and finance in the coming year or so.
As well as learning at work, all apprenticeships involve study with a college or university. With the OU, says Willett, students can log on to webinars, online tutorials and resources whenever convenient, without having to physically attend lectures. This means they can fit study in when it suits – useful for sectors such as retail, which often struggle to release employees. And as awareness of the new scheme grows, they are becoming more competitive. “People have started to recognise degree apprenticeships as a serious alternative,” he says. “Employers value people who they believe will see it through.”
