Universities facing up to the challenge

Degree apprenticeship programmes are revolutionising higher-level work-based training.

And they are also providing a ladder of opportunity for professionals at all levels to benefit from the skills and knowledge developed through a university education.

They are just one way that universities and businesses across the North West are coming together to address the skills challenges of the region and their impact on productivity and the wider economy.

Degree apprenticeships are a structured programme of work-based learning that incorporates studying for a fully accredited university degree or master’s degree, along with support to embed learning in the workplace.

Manchester Metropolitan University recently welcomed its 1,000th apprentice student, three years after launching one of the UK’s first degree apprenticeship programmes.

Heather Lord became its 1,000th degree apprentice as part of a cohort of 20 colleagues from Lloyds Banking Group on its digital and technology solutions course.

Since Manchester Metropolitan began delivering degree apprenticeships in September 2015 with 60 pioneering apprentices from nine employers, numbers have increased rapidly as organisations have recognised the value of a blended education that combines learning and working.

The university’s vice-chancellor and Institute for Apprenticeships board member, Professor Malcolm Press, says: “Our university has always played a leading role in ensuring that students are ready to take on the challenges of the modern workplace.

“Degree apprenticeships were are a natural progression of this approach and, in partnership with employers, we have created practice-focused programmes that are meeting the needs of industry and individuals.”

The programmes currently available at Manchester Metropolitan include digital and technology, management, healthcare and laboratory science.

The McDonald’s chartered manager degree apprenticeship is enabling personal ambitions to be realised and driving business performance at the restaurant chain.

Louise Hughes is one of more than 50 McDonald’s degree apprentices currently on the course. She says: “When I learnt that I could have the degree that I wanted with a full-time salary and the support with blended learning, it was just phenomenal.

“I’m learning about managing people, leading a business, critical thinking and how to better myself and others. The degree apprenticeship has aided me with the new skills to keep moving forward.”

Other universities are equally active. A science industry process/plant engineer degree apprenticeship at the University of Chester has been designed in consultation with major employers of chemical engineers in the North West. Unilever was the first in the UK to offer the apprenticeship.

Michael Leary, who joined Unilever at its R&D centre in Port Sunlight in October last year, was first to take advantage of the opportunity. While working as part of the pilot plant team, he is studying part time at the University of Chester for a BEng degree in Chemical Engineering.

He says: “The principles I get from my university studies are reinforced with real-life experience at Unilever, where I work closely with process development engineers, R&D scientists and pilot plant technicians.”
Professor Steve Wilkinson, head of the university’s chemical engineering department, says it works hard to “ensure we produce industry-ready graduates.”

Lancaster University vice-chancellor Professor Mark E Smith says believes businesses are engaging more with higher education. He points to the university’s work in the pioneering ‘Productivity through People’ programme.

It sees leading academics from Lancaster University Management School join forces with experts from industrial partners such as Siemens and Rolls-Royce to support leaders of small and medium sized businesses across the region by providing access to some of the latest techniques and research.

Prof Smith says: “Knowledge sharing is a large part of helping SMEs face productivity challenges. It has to filter down the supply chain and we have to do more of that, I’m absolutely convinced it is the way to go.

“Universities have to make sure we are accessible and make sure the barriers are as low as possible. In general I think they have got better at that.”

Stuart Wells, executive director of client relations at Alliance Manchester Business School, says it has embarked on a deliberate strategy of working with companies and organisations in the region.

It has also invested in new facilities, including an impressive executive education centre, which he describes as “a professional space” for its clients.

The school also works with a number of businesses, including BAE Systems, helping to develop the skills of executives and senior managers of the future.

The global project leadership programme it has developed for the defence giant, is making a big difference, says Wells.

The aim is to take people already in senior leadership roles and develop them further through a course that looks at real-life business challenges and projects within the company and gives them the tools to successfully lead and deliver them.

Wells says: “Over the last four or five years we have been developing strategic relationships with organisations here in the North West.

“And it is not just major blue chips; we are also working with some fantastic scale up organisations.”