Degree apprenticeships: building the future

Today marks the start of National Apprenticeship Week 2022.

Its theme this year is 'Build the Future' and it focuses on how apprenticeships can help those of all ages and backgrounds to gain skills and knowledge to develop a rewarding career, as well as enabling businesses to create a pipeline of talent, which will drive future success.

These themes fit well with the Government’s Levelling Up agenda announced last week. The white paper introduced key ambitions, one of which is to increase the number of people successfully completing high quality skills training significantly.

As Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University and a Board member of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education, I am well placed to understand the important role degree apprenticeships play in levelling up, not just in delivering high quality skills, but also in enhancing life chances for all those with potential.

We have more than 2,500 degree apprentices and 500+ industry partners.

We are pioneers of this innovative route into Higher Education (HE). We were part of the initial cohort of institutions to offer them and are now repeatedly recognised as leading HE provider. Today, we have more than 2,500 degree apprentices and 500+ industry partners and we aspire to increase apprenticeships numbers by 50% by 2026.

Why this ambition? Because the data speak for themselves. At the end of last year, we published our Force for Change report. This reflects on our experience of delivering degree apprenticeships and demonstrates how they are a powerful vehicle for social mobility.

It found:

• 40% of Manchester Metropolitan degree apprentices are the first generation in their family to go to university.
• More than a third are aged 20 or under and more than half are aged 24 or under when starting the programme.
• According to Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) data, 36% are from the most deprived areas (a trend that has improved from 26% in 2015/16). These data are even more significant for ‘mature’ learners, with approximately 50% coming from the lower half of the IMD range.
• Our cohorts are becoming more ethnically diverse, with an increase in Black, Asian and minority ethnic apprentices, from 10% in 2015-16 to 19% in 2020-21.

78% of our degree apprentices received a pay-rise and 64% were promoted during their apprenticeship.

The overall achievement rate (the proportion of those who pass their apprenticeship out of those who begin one) at Manchester Metropolitan is 83%, which is significantly higher than the national undergraduate average of 64%. The report also revealed that 78% of our degree apprentices received a pay-rise and 64% were promoted during their apprenticeship.

Our employer partners, which include AstraZeneca, Barclays and United Utilities as well as many smaller businesses across many sectors, consistently tell us that some of the main benefits of degree apprenticeships are growing talent, addressing skills shortages, and bringing new knowledge into their organisations that will help them to achieve their own ambitions.

During National Apprenticeships Week we will share just some of the stories from our students and employer partners. These reinforce how higher education can create incredible opportunities, change lives and produce skills and talent needed to drive the economy. They show how degree apprenticeships are a real force for change.