Dyson Institute set to swap degree apprenticeships for master’s

The Dyson Institute will begin offering a master of engineering degree to all its undergraduates next year, as it seeks to upskill its workforce.

The Wiltshire-based provider announced it would move away from its degree apprenticeship model, despite the Westminster government’s stated ambition to boost these types of qualification.

The Dyson Institute, which was established in 2017, will offer all its incoming students an MEng degree from September 2024.

Dyson students – who will pay no tuition fees and start on a salary of £22,000 – will continue to study in the classroom for two days a week and work alongside company engineers three days a week.

“We need the highest levels of skill and expertise to be able to compete in the global marketplace,” said founder Sir James Dyson.

“The progression to a master of engineering degree reflects the success of the Dyson undergraduate degree over the last six years.”

The company said that in “moving away” from the degree apprenticeship model to an employer-sponsored degree, it would have to forgo all funding from its apprenticeship levy.

The decision was influenced by the fact that there is currently no way of offering an integrated master’s-level degree through a degree apprenticeship.

The government has announced various measures to boost apprenticeships this year, with the aim of putting vocational routes into careers on an “equal footing” with traditional degrees.

Since its foundation, Dyson’s degrees have been taught jointly with the University of Warwick, but the institution has now been awarded its own “probationary” degree-awarding powers and said it was “on track” to receive full taught degree-awarding powers next year.

Ultimately, its aim is to achieve full university status.

Mr Dyson said his students had a good claim to be the hardest-working undergraduates in the country, enrolled on a “uniquely challenging and exciting course”.

Dyson said it planned to invest £250,000 in each student over the course and that all graduates would continue to be offered jobs at the company.

The Dyson Institute also announced plans to introduce further master’s courses and PhDs, a new two-year conversion course MSc in software engineering and credit-bearing short courses for some of its employees.

All these developments are dependent on regulatory approval, but Dyson is accepting registrations of interest from 6 November.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com