According to the Times, a report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) reveals that middle-class students dominate degree apprenticeship programmes. Degree apprenticeships combine university-level study with paid, work-based training, leading to a degree-level qualification without having to pay tuition fees. In 2022/23, only 10.7% of degree apprentices were identified as disadvantaged, compared to 19.4% of all undergraduates. The EPI recommends targeted maintenance grants and outreach efforts to improve access for underprivileged youngsters.
BFS Comment:
There are undoubtedly distinct advantages for anyone who can get themselves onto an apprenticeship scheme. Certainly if one is academically capable, a ‘Degree Apprenticeship’ should offer better prospects of getting a better paid occupation, but any well-founded apprenticeship, with or without a degree, is likely to offer better employment (& earnings) potential going forward.
I speak as someone who did an apprenticeship many years ago. When not at college I was put to work in the various departments of the firm I worked for. This included everything from working in the machine shops and on the assembly line to working in the PR, Accounts and Marketing departments. The result was that, at the end of my apprenticeship, I not only had a knowledge of the theories of business but also the practicalities of our business. This was a great advantage both to me and my employers.
Whilst mine was a degree-based apprenticeship, many of my fellow apprentices were on other schemes. Many including a day-release college arrangement. They also had the same levels of experience as I did when not at college and thus came out as valuable members of ‘The Team’. The one Caveat that I would put on this, however, is to ensure that the apprenticeship scheme one joins is properly organised and structured and not just designed to provide the business with a ‘Gofer & Tea-person’! Any distinction between ‘Middle-class’ and ‘Disadvantaged’ students should be totally irrelevant. It is ability and ambition that counts!