Degree apprenticeships
Degree apprenticeships are proving a popular choice amongst students and there has been a rapid rise in the number of universities and employers offering them. The University Vocational Awards Council has estimated that 10% of degrees awarded could be linked to an apprenticeship within the next three years. The government has supported their development as a vehicle for social mobility and a strategic way to achieve greater parity between academic and technical education. They are widely promoted as a route into higher education without acquiring student debt.1
But while degree apprenticeships have the potential to widen participation in higher education, improve graduate outcomes, and increase socio-economic diversity amongst the workforce, there is limited evidence of their impact so far. This is partly a feature of inadequate monitoring of the background characteristics of participants. Early studies suggest that they are not being taken up by the individuals most in need of accessing routes into higher education and skilled employment and they are disproportionately accessed by men.2 Research has found that only 13% of degree apprentices are from the most deprived areas. In contrast, 27% come from higher socio-economic backgrounds. Significantly, this pattern is reversed in the social composition of those undertaking the lowest level apprenticeships.
The picture is getting worse over time. Young apprentices from deprived areas made up 9% of degree level apprentices in 2016/17, but 6% in 2018/19. In that same time, the proportion of degree level apprentices older than 25 from the most advantaged backgrounds has more than doubled, from 5% to 11%. This provides clear evidence that young apprentices from deprived backgrounds are being crowded out since the establishment of the apprenticeship levy.3
The barriers to accessing degree apprenticeships relate to attainment, geography and careers advice and guidance. At some selective universities, the entry requirements are high and the competition is fierce over available places. Information regarding opportunities is patchy, and new places arise throughout the year and application processes vary. Cultural attitudes amongst some parents and gatekeepers may also deter them from promoting degree apprenticeships over traditional academic routes.
Footnotes
- Office for Students. (2019) Make degree apprenticeships a force for social mobility.
- Social Mobility Commission. (2020) Apprenticships and social mobility: fulfilling potential.
- Carl Cullinane and Katherine Doherty. (2020) Degree apprenticeships: levelling up? Making degree apprenticeships work for social mobility. The Sutton Trust, p. 4.
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