According to In-Comm, the monetary value of earning while you learn versus studying full time at university could be as high as six figures, when wages are combined with the figure saved on tuition fees.
“In addition to being able to apply learning to live manufacturing situations, we have estimated that doing an apprenticeship all the way through to degree level could be a £100,000 opportunity when you consider the wages you are paid and the tuition fees that you save,” said Bekki Phillips, managing director of In-Comm Training.
“Better still, all apprentices are employed from day one and benefit from clear progression routes to further their career. A lot of the manufacturing leaders of today will have started out as an apprentice.”
In-Comm supports vocational learning at three technical academies in Aldridge and at the Marches Centre of Technology in Bridgnorth and Shrewsbury. It interviewed two cohorts of its students who, perhaps unsurprisingly, were hugely positive about the benefits of agree apprenticeships.
When asked what they liked best about being an apprentice, over two-thirds quoted the ability to ‘earn while you learn’, with a quarter pointing out the fact that you can immediately apply learning to a real-world environment. Nine out of ten of those surveyed would also recommend a degree apprenticeship as an alternative to university.
“There has been a massive change in attitudes towards vocational learning and that is reflected in the number of young people that are now choosing to go down the apprenticeship route as their ‘first choice’ and not as a backstop,” Phillips continued.
“It has taken us a while to get to this position, but I think businesses and education have started to make real inroads into putting together a persuasive case for being an apprentice.”
Red Bull makes hydrogen fuel cell play with AVL
Formula 1 is an anachronistic anomaly where its only cutting edge is in engine development. The rules prohibit any real innovation and there would be...