There is no denying that university is great if you want to be a doctor, but degree apprenticeships provide so much more. The obvious reasons for choosing the degree apprenticeship route is that you get paid and you also get real world work experience as a fully-fledged employee of a company along with a degree at the end of the course. The number of degree apprenticeships are growing and I’m here to talk about why. At GetMyFirstJob we have heard amazing things about people doing degree apprenticeships. On ApprenticeshipStories you can read about Laura who has undertaken a Legal degree apprenticeship at a law firm. As Laura says, she "isn’t a ‘tea-maker’" she has her "own cases all of which can be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds".
How do universities tie in with degree apprenticeships?
Universities themselves are starting to realise that degree apprenticeships are a very attractive proposition and they are only going to get more and more popular. There are at least 60 universities and other higher education institutions across England currently implementing or planning to implement degree apprenticeships for the next academic year (2017-2018). This means that degree apprenticeships will be more viable for more people across the country as more universities start to offer them. There could be a university near you that have implemented degree apprenticeships!
What can I do a degree apprenticeships in?
The sectors and jobs that you can do degree apprenticeships in are also increasing and changing. Universities will be providing degree apprenticeships across almost all of the available standards. Current growth is being driven by chartered managers, digital and technology, and engineer-related degree apprenticeships.
As well as delivering existing standards universities are interested in developing new standards in 43 industry areas. Growth will diversify as more standards are approved, especially those for the public sector. Degree apprentices are mostly based locally, and institutions envisage that over the next three years there will be significant growth locally and regionally, and some growth nationally. That then means degree apprenticeships will be more accessible for people wanting to undertake one.
What can I get out of it?
There is a huge amount of benefits when it comes to degree apprenticeships. They are already highly regarded by universities as more start to implement them. Degree apprenticeships could attract students that wouldn’t have gone into traditional university programmes, helping institutions reach widening participation and social mobility goals. This will mean that people who are just going to university but don’t have a clear idea of what they want to do but are capable of undertaking a degree are presented with another option. People who come out of school and go straight into work, but find that they want to do a degree later after they have settled into their job can do so through a degree apprenticeship. This vastly increases their skillset which is good for the student but also good for the employer as they are more likely to hold onto their talent.
If you have your heart set on a degree but want to go straight into work then a degree apprenticeship will suit you perfectly. It provides you with real-world work experience a paid for degree, along with being paid a wage on top of that.
It really is the best of both worlds
