Last May Wellington College hosted The Third Way, a conference that brought together leaders from business and education to ignite the debate on degree apprenticeships. The second conference will be held this May and we hope it becomes an annual event. Why? Because we believe that they could offer a viable alternative for our pupils and many others.
Our leavers tend to follow a well-trodden path: Russell Group, Oxbridge, Ivy League. There is no doubt that traditional university courses are the right choice for many, but soaring student debt and doubts over quality have led others to question whether universities offer genuine value for money.
And their future employers? They have started to question both the process and the product. One of the great privileges of my role is having the opportunity to speak to the people who will, one day, employ our students. Many are of one mind — today’s graduates are not work-ready. They lack soft skills. They lack creativity. Now, more than ever, employers are looking for innovators. At Wellington, we are making sure that our students hear this message loud and clear, but the message from industry is this: traditional university courses are not equipping graduates with the right skills for the workplace. And why would they? To my knowledge, universities have never said that this was part of their success criteria.
The introduction of higher tuition fees in 2012 changed the game and we are starting to see some unwelcome consequences. It is no wonder that graduates are ill-prepared for the world of work. We have seen a rise in unconditional offers (whatever happened to deferred gratification?), a rise in the number of first-class degrees and a decline in the number of degree fails. At some universities it seems that it is impossible to fail. And let us not ignore the most uncomfortable truth about tuition fees: they are a disaster for social mobility. But there is another way.
What business leaders are telling me is that they would relish the opportunity to work with able school-leavers, grounding them in the things that really matter in their sector, instilling in them the values important to their company, while allowing them the space to learn, to fail, to adapt.
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Degree apprenticeships offer a genuine alternative, but there is work to do. I am delighted that progress has been made since I spoke on this issue last year. Information is more readily available. Students can search for many degree apprenticeships via Ucas, a development that immediately puts them on a more equal footing with traditional degrees. There are attractive opportunities on offer, with some big names involved: BT, KPMG, Accenture, IBM — to name but a few. One offering from Goldman Sachs boasts a “competitive salary” and cites entry requirements of “three A levels with grades of ABB in rigorous subjects”. This is akin to a Russell Group offer, something I believe is crucial if we want school-leavers to see degree apprenticeships as a genuine third way.
At Wellington College, we are working to ensure that our students understand all of the options available, rather than following blindly those well-trodden paths. I hope that even more will be done to open their eyes to the possibilities. Back in May, I asserted the need to rebrand: the word “apprenticeship” does little to entice students (or their parents) off the highways. My suggestion — career degree — gained some traction at the time. We need to reimagine. And while we are reimagining, perhaps we should ask why there are so few degree apprenticeships available in the arts? The dominance of finance and IT could, for some, be another limiting factor in what is otherwise a brilliant initiative.
So, this is another call to action.
We are in the midst of a higher education revolution. The blue touchpaper has been lit, but unless more is done to raise awareness and to ensure consistent quality, there is a danger that the degree apprenticeship scheme will fizzle out. And that would be a tragedy.
Julian Thomas is Master of Wellington College.
The Wellington College and Good Schools Guide “Third Way” Conference takes place in London on 11 May. Email conferences@wellingtoncollege.org.uk for more information.
To produce The Times Guide to Higher & Degree Apprenticeships the independent market research company High Fliers Research contacted more than 250 employers of school-leavers, graduates and young professionals during December 2017.
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The research identified how many higher or degree apprentices each organisation recruited in the previous 12 months on courses that lead to level 4 qualifications or above.
Employers who offer training schemes outside the apprenticeship frameworks: by sponsoring places on existing undergraduate courses; providing their own degree courses at university; or through programmes leading to professional qualifications were included.
Advanced or intermediate apprenticeships aimed at 16-plus school-leavers, which lead to level 2 or 3 qualifications, have not been included. The 50 organisations that recruited the most sixth-form school-leavers for higher or degree apprenticeships, or comparable schemes, took on more than 4,600 trainees in 2017.