Eversheds Sutherland was one of the first to offer solicitor degree apprenticeships and has recruited over sixty apprentices in the past eight years. “We wanted to open up the legal profession to those from low socio-economic backgrounds, who may not get the chance to go to university because they can’t afford it,” explains Stefi Contardo, the firm’s Emerging Talent Business Partner. The initiative has proved successful and a large percentage of the sixth-formers that have applied for the firm’s solicitor degree apprenticeships are the first generation in their family to go to university. Rhian Duncan is a few months away from completing her four-year engineering degree apprenticeship at JLR, the UK’s largest car manufacturer. “Having the financial security of a monthly income has made such a difference during my apprenticeship. I haven’t had the long summer holidays that university students enjoy, but I’ve now got savings and managed to buy my second car last year,” she says. “And I’ve got the travel bug too, with trips to Morroco, Iceland and Spain, all thanks to the salary from my apprenticeship.” Duncan studied maths, physics and business at A-level, and continuing to university was the norm at her school. “But the degree apprenticeship at JLR offered a great salary and the degree part of the apprenticeship was with the University of Warwick,” she recalls. “The combination of a renowned company, a well-known university and a top degree was an unbeatable one.”
in excess of £100,000 over the duration of their apprenticeships – and for their employers to pay up to £27,000 in university tuition fees for the degree element of their training and development. The reason school-leavers are offered such generous pay is that degree apprentices work for their employer for the equivalent of four days a week and then study for their degree on the fifth day, either through online lectures and assignments, or in-person at a university. “All of our degree apprentices are doing real jobs,”
says Iain Heath, Head of Emerging Talent UK at HSBC, which offers degree apprenticeships that cover retail & commercial banking, technology, and cyber security. “They are holding positions in the bank that someone else would be doing if they weren’t there, and they make a positive contribution
It’s not unusual for degree apprentices to be paid over £100,000 during their apprenticeship
to the business from the outset,” he continues. Degree apprenticeships at HSBC are usually five-year programmes and are designed to enable apprentices to reach the same level in the organisation as a university-leaver who has completed the HSBC graduate programme. Competition for places on degree apprenticeships can be fierce, with over 20 applicants per place on many of the most-popular programmes. And the majority of employers require sixth-formers to go through a three or four-stage recruitment & selection process, often during the final months of their A-level studies. For those who are successful, a degree apprenticeship can be life-changing. Law firm
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