ID222 An agile workforce unit powered by embedded degree apprenticeships

The Idea

Create an agile workforce unit in professional services. This unit would consist of students on degree apprenticeships that we offer in house, particularly across our existing digital and leadership portfolio, and align with our curriculum, workforce requirements, and commitment to social mobility, recruiting students as both student and employee to give them the skills and experience they need to enter the workforce. We could also explore a range of additional degree apprenticeship and standard apprenticeship routes as both employer and training provider to make this happen. 

Why This Idea Should Be Considered

The idea would provide a small increase in student numbers, additional resource for the University, and an agile unit within the workforce that could be deployed to work on priority projects. We would pay salaries for new staff whether they were apprentices or not; depending on the approach the University wanted to take, we could hire apprentices on the pay spine or on an apprentice wage, whichever was felt most ethical and/or financially viable. 

It would ensure that we could generate a talent pipeline for skills gaps in Professional Services, identified through an organisational needs analysis, whilst providing flexibility within the workforce to enable resourcing of key strategic projects where needed.

How We Would Implement This Idea

This is a long-term commitment for both the University and the student. We would need to consider the main areas where we need skills, where our curriculum does or could offer a degree apprenticeship in this area, and how we embed this into our workforce, including onboarding, training and offboarding. We would need to ensure a robust application process for potential apprentices/employees. We would need to consider what roles might be available at the end of the apprenticeships and how apprentices would access these, for example through an application process. We would also need to consider the salaries for these roles and whether they would be aligned to an apprentice wage or the University pay spine, including where funding sits for these salaries and additional employment costs. A standard salary, regardless of the apprenticeship, would probably be equitable. We would need to consider where they would sit and who would manage them in the formal organisational structure. We would also need to consider the institutional support available for and set reasonable expectations of managers and apprentices as they navigate their roles/studies. 

What Success Would Look Like

In the first instance, that prospective students are attracted to apply to these roles, and high retention would also signal success. We would then measure their contributions to projects within the University. In the long term, we develop graduate apprentices who are ready for the workplace, having provided them with a degree and years of work experience. This might also help address some of the issues at the core of the current employment crisis for graduates in the UK.