Stuart McDermott and Ross Cameron are midway through the Civil & Environmental Engineering degree at Glasgow Caledonian University after having completed the HNC course at Glasgow Kelvin College. Their education has been undertaken on a day-release basis while progressing their career at DBA.
Use apprenticeships to close skills gap
Stuart and Ross have been joined at GCU by two recent recruits who are following a new Graduate Apprenticeship initiative. The first of the latest recruits to DBA’s stable is Megan McGaw, 18, from East Kilbride, who is undertaking her degree course at Glasgow Caledonian University, specialising in structural engineering.
She said: “I came into the DBA offices to do a week’s work experience and I enjoyed it so much that I stayed. It was pointed out to me that I could do four years at university and then come back, or spend that four years gaining experience with the firm and earning a very good salary. I can go to university one day a week to gain my degree.”
She is joined on her degree course by Kieran Duffy, 20, from Wishaw, who joined DBA from school and is now in the finals of the Apprentice of the Year category at this year’s Lanarkshire Business Awards.
Kieran said: “I began in a Modern Apprenticeship and gained my initial qualifications in civil engineering at Glasgow Kelvin College. I am now studying for my degree at Glasgow Caledonian and hope to build a worthwhile career as an engineer.”
DBA propose to sign-up a further two technicians to the Graduate Apprenticeship programme this year.
Scott MacPhail, Director of DBA, who joined the firm as a graduate engineer, said: “It is very satisfying to be able to give these talented and dedicated young people the opportunity to work themselves up the ladder.
“There is a case to be made that people who come through the ‘earn-as-you-learn’ route gain a greater understanding of day-to-day practical issues and also of the firm’s ethos, than those who come into the profession straight from university.”
DBA is focused on the residential housebuilding sector with clients that include Cala, Barratt, Bellway and Taylor Wimpey. The company is involved also in transport infrastructure, specialising in complex motorway projects.
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