{"id":358770,"date":"2026-01-08T10:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/358770\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:30:16","slug":"how-the-u-k-helps-college-students-get-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/358770\/","title":{"rendered":"How the U.K. Helps College Students Get to Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story<\/a> was produced by The Hechinger Report<\/a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on education.<\/p>\n

MACCLESFIELD, England \u2014 Ishan Goshawk, an apprentice with global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, donned a lab coat and safety glasses, and entered a room filled with robots.<\/p>\n

His first stop was a machine programmed to fill dozens of tiny vials with a compound he needed for an experiment. Everything seemed in order, so Goshawk went to check on a second robot, a gleaming apparatus that, he noted, cost half a million pounds (about $620,000). When the first robot finished filling the vials, Goshawk would bring them here, to test how efficiently drug compounds can be purified using different solvents.<\/p>\n

Most students here and in the United States wouldn\u2019t get access to expensive equipment like this until graduate school. Goshawk \u2014 a 21-year-old undergraduate student and one of 149 \u201cdegree apprentices\u201d employed by AstraZeneca across the U.K. \u2014 started using them his second week in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows the trust we\u2019ve been given,\u201d said Goshawk, who is working nearly full time while studying toward a degree in chemical science at Manchester Metropolitan University that his employer is paying for. By the time he graduates next spring, he will have earned roughly \u00a3100,000 (approximately $130,000) in wages, on top of the tuition-free education.<\/p>\n

\"ManchesterManchester Metropolitan University is one of England\u2019s first \u2014 and largest \u2014 providers of apprenticeship degrees. Credit: 4kclips \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Degree apprenticeships like Goshawk\u2019s have exploded across England since their introduction a decade ago. More than 60,000<\/a> apprentices began programs leading to the U.K. equivalent of bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in the 2024-25 academic year, in fields as varied as engineering, digital technology, health care, law and business.<\/p>\n

Close to 90<\/a> universities in England and Wales now participate, including elite institutions like the University of Cambridge. Major British and multinational companies \u2014 Deloitte, Rolls-Royce, Unilever, JP Morgan and Microsoft among them \u2014 have signed on.<\/p>\n

The programs are so popular that it\u2019s become harder to get some coveted apprenticeship slots than it is to get into elite colleges like Oxford or Cambridge. Nearly half of the students who create accounts with the United Kingdom\u2019s centralized college admissions service now say their first choice is a degree apprenticeship, according to one expert. At AstraZeneca, which is headquartered in Cambridge, there were 3,300 applicants for 18 degree apprenticeships last year, the company says.<\/p>\n

England has embraced degree apprenticeship as a solution to a wide range of challenges, including high youth unemployment, spiraling student debt and rapid technological change. The programs have been sold here as a way to both retrain existing employees and to get more low-income students through college and into the workforce.<\/p>\n

Now, as apprenticeship advocates in the United States embark on their own effort<\/a> to expand<\/a> the programs, for many of the same reasons as the United Kingdom, some are pointing to England as a leader to follow.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tWeighed down by negative news?
\n\t\t\t\tOur smart, bright, weekly newsletter is the uplift you\u2019ve been looking for.<\/p>\n

But skeptics say unreliable funding and the ad hoc approach to apprenticeships in the U.S. could make it difficult to replicate the English success story. And if the United Kingdom provides a road map, some say it also offers a cautionary tale.<\/p>\n

While many countries focus apprenticeship on young adults and technical careers, England\u2019s system spans two-thirds<\/a> of occupations and serves everyone from school dropouts to older employees seeking master\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n

This all-in model has strained the country\u2019s apprenticeship budget and led to a recent decision by government leaders to end master\u2019s level apprenticeships for anyone over the age of 21, starting next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s trying to do too much lifting, and it\u2019s coming up against a lot of tension,\u201d said Ethan Kenvarg, a consultant for U.S. companies and governments who specializes in apprenticeships. He warns against the United States similarly turning to apprenticeships as a catch-all solution to the nation\u2019s education and workforce challenges.<\/p>\n

In a classroom at Middlesex University, in northwest London, 18 undergraduate students in a sales apprenticeship were learning about ethics and professionalism one Tuesday this fall. The instructor had them read a case study in which an employee leaked his company\u2019s new product launch plan to a friend at a competitor, then asked the students how they\u2019d respond if they were that friend. Would they share the plan with their boss, so they can steal market share?<\/p>\n

One group of apprentices decided they\u2019d tell their boss \u2014 keeping quiet could jeopardize their own job security, they explained. Another would notify their company\u2019s general counsel, reasoning that the disclosure was a legal matter, not an ethical one. But a third group saw no problem with using the leaked info.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs it not our job to win business?\u201d asked Sulayman Warraich, a third-year apprentice with Samsung. \u201cI feel like this is what we\u2019re paid to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Louise Sutton, whose company, Consalia, co-created the apprenticeship with Middlesex, gently challenged him. \u201cDoes your company have a sales code of conduct?\u201d she asked Warraich. \u201cDoes it say, \u2018Win at all costs\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Employers in England that hire apprentices are required to set aside at least 20 percent of their working hours for off-the-job training. In many cases, they give degree apprentices a day off each week to study. Apprentices might attend class on their day off, or in three- or four-day \u201cblocks\u201d each month. Some take classes online.<\/p>\n

Because apprentices work nearly full time, they often take fewer classes per term than a typical university student, spreading them out over a longer time period.<\/p>\n

Still, juggling work and school can be challenging. Warraich said it\u2019s \u201cnearly impossible to be perfect at both work and uni.\u201d He\u2019s chosen to \u201cput in 100 percent at Samsung and put university on the back burner,\u201d he said, concentrating on his classes enough to pass but not to compromise his job performance.<\/p>\n

There are other drawbacks, too. If an apprentice discovers that they don\u2019t like the work \u2014 or their employer \u2014 they can\u2019t simply switch to another field or company the way a typical college student might transfer between majors or colleges. Their only option is to leave and apply for another apprenticeship elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Close to a third of undergraduate degree apprentices don\u2019t make it to the end of their programs, according to government statistics<\/a>. Surveys<\/a> show that the main reasons they quit include not getting on with their employer and receiving a better job offer.<\/p>\n

Yet many degree apprentices say the programs are well worth the tradeoffs. While their peers are racking up an average of \u00a353,000<\/a>\u00a0of student loans (about $70,000), they are able to graduate debt-free, with years of on-the-job experience and a virtual Rolodex of industry connections.<\/p>\n

In interviews, degree apprentices often describe their choice as a \u201cno-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted a degree, but I didn\u2019t want to pay for it,\u201d said Goshawk, who chose an apprenticeship over the elite Imperial College London. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m coming out a few years ahead\u201d of friends who pursued traditional degree programs.<\/p>\n

\"AApprenticeship degrees can be harder to get into than elite colleges like Oxford or Cambridge. Credit: PeopleImages \/ Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Apprenticeship has deep roots in England, going back to the guilds that flourished during the Middle Ages and still exist today. For much of its history, however, apprenticeship was viewed as a lesser alternative to university, said Tom Bewick, a consultant who has worked on apprenticeship policy on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s changed, he said: Apprenticeship degrees have \u201cbroken down the cultural snobbery that used to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The popularity of degree apprenticeships both delights and worries Elizabeth Gorb, the former longtime director of apprenticeships for Manchester Metropolitan University. One of England\u2019s first \u2014 and largest \u2014 providers of the programs, it now enrolls some 3,000 degree apprentices, she said.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s been exciting to see the programs take hold, Gorb said, she worries they\u2019ve become so competitive that they could lose their ability to act as levers of social mobility. Government statistics show that, nationwide, degree apprentices are half as likely<\/a> as traditional undergraduate students to have received free school meals as children (a proxy for poverty) \u2014 and half as likely to represent a minority ethnic background.<\/p>\n

To increase the number of available slots, \u201cwe need more employers to get involved,\u201d said Gorb.<\/p>\n

To encourage companies to offer apprenticeships, England requires all large employers to pay into a fund they and other, smaller companies can tap for off-the-job training.<\/p>\n

Even so, smaller companies have been slower to get involved than larger ones, which are entitled to the money they pay through the apprenticeship levy. While smaller companies can tap the levy pool for up to 95 percent of their off-the-job training costs, some say they can\u2019t afford the five percent share or spare the staff.<\/p>\n

Companies that do participate see benefits \u2014 both in terms of attracting a more diverse group of workers, and in retaining employees. At AstraZeneca, one of the first companies to partner with Manchester Metropolitan, more than three-quarters of apprentices remain with the company after completing their programs, according to Kim Hardman, the company\u2019s director of apprenticeship.<\/p>\n

Apprenticeships can also bring more women into the traditionally male-dominated science and math fields, said Lucy Kidson, apprenticeship program senior manager at financial company AJ Bell. While most computer science programs at English universities only accept applicants who have focused on math and computer science in secondary school, AJ Bell and many of the other companies that partner with Manchester Met take students from all academic backgrounds. Nearly half of the degree apprentices the company has hired have been female.<\/p>\n

There are costs and benefits for colleges, too. At Manchester Metropolitan, the apprenticeship unit has grown to a staff of 100, including new hires in business development and skills coaching for apprentices.<\/p>\n

But while the programs are less profitable than traditional university programs, Gorb says they pay off in other ways. Offering degree apprenticeships has helped the university diversify its revenue stream, opened up relationships with hundreds of local, national and global firms, and led to improvements in student satisfaction and job placement \u2014 key metrics by which colleges are judged. It\u2019s also raised the university\u2019s profile nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s complicated and a lot of work, but I think it\u2019s put the university on the map,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Experts attribute England\u2019s success in growing degree apprenticeship to steady funding and a centralized approach to apprenticeship. The country has standardized the skills and knowledge apprentices need and made sure that students have opportunities to learn about apprenticeships beginning in middle school.<\/p>\n

In the United States, where universities are confronting declining enrollment and doubts about the relevance of their coursework, degree apprenticeships \u2014 or apprenticeship degrees, as they are known here \u2014 are more of an ad hoc phenomena.<\/p>\n

For now, they\u2019re offered primarily by two-year colleges and are mostly confined to teaching and nursing. But the programs are starting to crop up in other high-need fields, such as child care and social work, and proponents argue they have the potential to expand into many more.<\/p>\n

In a time of deep political division, apprenticeship degrees enjoy rare bipartisan support. Proponents from both parties see them as a way to help employers fill jobs, colleges fill seats and students graduate debt-free.<\/p>\n

But while the U.S. has increased its investment in apprenticeship significantly over the past decade, the country still lags far behind England, which spends 60 times as much on a per capita basis, according to the trade association Apprenticeships for America. And though President Donald Trump has pledged<\/a> to support one million apprentices a year, he has also proposed a $1.64 billion<\/a>\u00a0cut to workforce programs, which include apprenticeships.<\/p>\n

Skeptics like Bewick doubt Congress would ever impose an English-style levy on American employers. And getting employers to agree upon single standards for each occupation would also be difficult, said Nicholas D\u2019Antonio, a researcher who has helped set up apprenticeships for some major U.S. employers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see them relinquishing autonomy in the name of a national system,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Without reliable funding and consistent rules, many U.S. employers will remain reluctant to invest in apprenticeship, said Rebecca Agostino, who helped lead a doomed effort by British company Multiverse to expand into the United States.<\/p>\n

When Multiverse, an apprenticeship intermediary led by Euan Blair, the son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, arrived stateside in 2021, the tech sector was booming and companies were eager to invest in workers, Agostino said. But when tech hiring slowed, employers stopped spending on apprenticeship, and the company \u2014 which has trained tens of thousands of apprentices in the U.K. \u2014 abandoned its expansion plans.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tWait, you’re not a member yet?<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tJoin the Reasons to be Cheerful community by supporting our nonprofit publication and giving what you can.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJoin<\/a><\/p>\n

Given the differences in how the two countries fund and structure apprenticeships, D\u2019Antonio argues that it\u2019s time for the United States to find its own way forward. \u201cWe have to stop aspiring to European models, because they don\u2019t reflect the society we live in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

One idea is to focus apprenticeship degrees on fields where labor shortages are acute and on-the-job training is required. That\u2019s the approach taken by Reach University, a 5-year-old nonprofit college that offers apprenticeship degrees in teaching and health care, and is helping other colleges launch programs of their own. Reach has set a goal of 3 million people enrolling in apprenticeship degrees nationally by 2035.<\/p>\n

AstraZeneca, which has trained hundreds of apprentices like Goshawk to date, isn\u2019t waiting to see how things turned out. This year, it dipped its toe into the U.S. market, partnering with the two-year Montgomery College to train its first two American degree apprentices, at its facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland.<\/p>\n

Malachi Reid, who starts classes as early as 8 a.m. and finishes work at 11 p.m., says the long days are worth it. When he was in eighth grade, his mother underwent an 18-hour surgery to remove a tumor on her inner ear. As the hours dragged on, he worried he might never see his mom again.<\/p>\n

Now, Reid is part of an enterprise that might one day spare other children that fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo maybe one day come up with a drug that could take away the tumor without the invasive surgery \u2014 that really inspires me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet focused on education. MACCLESFIELD, England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[27409,1398,59,57,58,12336,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-358770","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-college","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-gb","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-greatbritain","13":"tag-higher-education","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}