Full time university isn’t for everyone. Have you ever considered looking into a degree apprenticeship? A degree apprenticeship enables you to gain a full undergraduate or master degree while you work. Degree apprenticeship can take up to three to six years to complete, depending on the course level. You’ll spend most of your time working and you’ll also study part-time at university. For example, you might go to university one or two days per week, or in short blocks, such as a week at a time. Overall, you spend about 20% of your time studying vs. 80% of your time working.
There are so many benefits to degree apprenticeships. It enables a person to be the best version of themselves and it enables them to contribute their learning back into the workplace and that can really project this in the work place.
Here are below some pros and cons of a degree apprenticeship.
Pros of a degree apprenticeship
- You’ll get real-life experience working alongside your degree.
- Your degree is fully paid for, so there’s no cost to you.
- You’ll get paid a salary just like a normal employee
Cons of a degree apprenticeship
- You’ll need to balance working and studying at the same time
- You won’t qualify for any student loans
- Apprentices don’t always get the traditional ‘university experience’.
Doing a degree apprenticeship will likely mean that you also get a chartered qualification-this might be part of the apprenticeship or it could be sponsored by the employer. The end of your apprenticeship, you could go onto a level 7 higher-level apprenticeship or you’ll be ready to go onto a full-time position.
If you like the sound of this then this may be the route for you. You apply for a degree apprentices in the same way you apply for a normal job. You will need to submit an application, which usually includes a CV and a covering letter. If you’re also applying for university, you could use your personal statement as a starting point for your application.
Employers advertise degree apprenticeships throughout the year and there is no application cycle like there is with the university. The vacancy will state when the application
deadline is, and when the apprenticeship is due to start.
There are many ways to find apprenticeships, have a look out for job fairs, job websites, university websites. Other ways of finding apprenticeship is looking directly at the employer’s website directly or UCAS or prospects.