I am unashamedly a great supporter of apprenticeships - I think they now provide better opportunities for our young people than ever before.
So, it is good to see the University of Gloucestershire grasping the nettle and bringing together those opportunities for the start of National Apprenticeship week on February 5.
I like how Dr Polly Pick, Director of Business Engagement and Partnerships at the University put their event to me.
“It’s everything you need to know about apprenticeships but afraid to ask”, she says.
That’s a welcome message for companies for whom this event on Wednesday February 5 (2-5pm) is designed to attract. To book a free place go to Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/national-apprenticeship-week-employer-eve...
This should be the age of the apprentice.
But I think that companies, especially smaller businesses, have often found that taking on an apprentice can be quite difficult.
How employers can set up new apprenticeships to meet their unique business needs is one of the key focuses of this event at the University’s Business School.
Too often companies are frustrated that their needs are not catered for by a provider’s apprenticeship programmes.
Polly says: “Taking on an apprentice
can come across as quite complex, and if you are small business with little management time it can be quite daunting.
“What apprenticeships are available? How do I choose? are the questions we are often asked”.
And when you look at the Institute for Apprenticeships website and see there are something like 700 programmes it is no wonder that you might feel confused.
What I like about this event is that they are involving all the main apprenticeship providers in the county-Gloucestershire College, South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, Bath College and GET (Gloucestershire Engineering Training).
Gloucestershire has a great track record with its colleges here being regularly at the top of national league for apprenticeships.
I am proud to have contributed to that editing newspapers here over 16 years and helped them drive those apprenticeships and to convince parents they were very worthwhile,
Now, the University of Gloucestershire is expanding that good work of the colleges by providing degree apprenticeships.
“As an institution, we are committed to support the growth of apprenticeships generally”, Polly tells me.
“People would start on a lower level apprenticeship and then progress. You can actually go up to a doctor level on an apprenticeship programme we run.
“The key thing is that they are earning and learning at the same time with a degree apprenticeship.
“By the time you have a mortgage and kids and are used to earning, it is a massive step to say I am going to stop and do an MBA.
“I am going to take a year or two years out to get these extra skills. But if you can say to your employer: I am going to work and study at the same time you have the best of both worlds and that is what a degree apprenticeship can offer.
“We try to make as much of the degree apprenticeship programme as possible applied to their working role.
“So, it should represent value to the business while they are studying, not just at the end.
“I think people are genuinely pleased that you have taken enough interest in them to train them and to think about the next steps in their career.”
One of the hot topics to be featured at the event will be how companies can transfer Apprenticeship Levy payments to supply chain partners.
The Apprenticeship Levy has, in my view, been very poorly communicated by government since its introduction.
It is paid by companies with a wage bill over £3million a year.
A number of companies in Gloucestershire have found it difficult to spend that money which then goes back to the Treasury after two years if unspent on training.
By the end of this year, the University of Gloucestershire will have 350 students employed and studying for degree apprenticeships with their biggest client being the NHS.
“For many learners, degree apprenticeships are a fantastic alternative to an ordinary degree. You co me out of the programme with a qualification equivalent to a degree and with three years’ work experience on top”, says Polly.
I started as an apprentice reporter on the South London Observer at 17. Now, over 50 years later I am still proud to wear that apprenticeship badge.
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