Degree apprenticeships: ‘don’t ruin something world is adopting’

A report showing the impact of degree apprenticeships aims to urge UK politicians to persist with employer levy funding, “not ruin something the world is adopting”, and to provide evidence dispelling notions, such as that of a middle-class takeover, which are “divorced from lived experience”.

Degree apprenticeships: voices from the frontline – based on a survey of 1,073 degree apprentices, 148 employers and 248 teachers and trainers, and funded by the Quality Assurance Agency – includes a finding that 82 per cent of degree apprentices say their qualification “is facilitating their career progression”.

But it also finds that 47 per cent of apprentices do not think that degree apprenticeships are held in the same esteem as non-apprenticeship courses, and 22 per cent do not agree that their courses are valued within their workplace – with 65 per cent of those who strongly disagree enrolled on the police constable degree apprenticeship.

Raheel Nawaz, lead investigator on the report and pro vice-chancellor for digital transformation at Staffordshire University, one of the largest providers of degree apprenticeships, said media coverage of degree apprenticeships has often been “really divorced from the lived experience”.

He highlighted descriptions of the qualifications as “fake apprenticeships” or a “land grab for the middle class”.

“Those were actual headlines; in fact, politicians repeated them,” he added.

Yet internationally, he continued, “Canada wanted to adopt it, New Zealand wanted to adopt it, Spain wanted to adopt it – Pakistan…Saudi Arabia. These are countries where I have personally been involved, helping them – either they have already started or they are on the brink of adopting [degree apprenticeships].”

Professor Nawaz said of the main driver for the research: “How can we have a serious national debate on this whilst we do not have credible evidence? We needed to get the voices from the front line.”

One key finding from the survey was that 67 per cent of employers said they would discontinue their participation in degree apprenticeships if the apprenticeship levy, paid by larger employers, were not available.

Labour has said, should it win the forthcoming general election, that it would overhaul what leader Sir Keir Starmer called the “failed apprenticeships levy” to extend it to non-apprenticeship training – leading to Conservative claims the levy is under threat.

Professor Nawaz said: “We haven’t had that level of clarity from the current opposition as to what their intentions are. So there’s a very important message: don’t ruin something the world is adopting and adapting.”

Professor Nawaz – whose passion for degree apprenticeships comes not just from Staffordshire’s strength there but also from his own experience as a former apprentice at IBM in Pakistan – said productivity impact was seen in the 93 per cent of employer respondents agreeing that degree apprenticeships “play a pivotal role in fostering the future growth of their organisation”.

Diversity was another key benefit spotlighted in the survey, where 84 per cent of employers said degree apprenticeships contribute to workforce diversification. That diversity benefit was not just in gender and age, “but also socioeconomic background and ethnicity”, he said.

On the unhappiness among the police constable degree apprenticeship cohort – having the apprenticeship or a degree is an entry requirement in most police forces – the report urges that “recognising the importance of student motivation, institutions must provide additional care and support to enhance motivation, especially when degree apprenticeships serve as the sole pathway to certain professions”.

On the findings in general, Professor Nawaz also highlighted the scale of investment being made by universities.

Degree apprenticeships, he said, were “a splendid British invention…However, we have to be mindful that quality comes at a cost.”

john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com