Consultant Review

I am a Digital Marketing Consultant for CGI's UK business. On a day to day basis my role mainly involves social media content creation and curation, as well as web design and social media and digital marketing strategy. I work closely with many other areas of the business such as different business units and other corporate functions outside of markeing.

I have improved my communication and presentation skills and have many opportunities to gain new skills and industry accreditation, for example: learning from others, e-learning, university learning, and courses by external providers. I feel my confidence has grown massively since starting my new role many thanks to the great support from my team.

For the duration of my programme the university course has not very well delivered, mostly due to consistent staffing issues, such as high staff turn around and poor quality teaching. While the university does have an excellent range of online and paper resources which allow students to complete independent learning, this is not an acceptable substitute for a decent standard of teaching.

The 12 week performance reviews only tend to happen every 6-12 months. Assignments are not clearly briefed or structured until students complain and the handbooks have to be modified as late as week 7/12 in the semester due to a lack of clarity. While some lecturers are excellent, others often finish 3 hour sessions within 40mins due to a complete lack of organisation, planning, and relevant subject matter knowledge.

My workplace mentor and manager have been incredibly supportive and offer to proofread my work, help brainstorm ideas, and help me with planning my ongoing personal development. However the student team do not do enough to take on-board and action student feedback and complaints about the University - which are numerous.

12 week reviews often do not take place unless driven by the student. The University seems to acknowledge the poor quality of their teachers but remain unsympathetic and unwilling/unable to take action. Excellent support has been given for the dissertation, and student well-being, and professional and academic career development.

Teachers try to teach the students theory and get us to apply the relevant frameworks to situations within our workplace with the aim of improving our performance as professional practitioners. There is much emphasis on the practical application of learning and on personal reflection, however not all the modules are particularly relevant to our job roles, eg: I do not work in software development so trying to apply this module to my role in marketing was not always easy or appropriate.

CGI has a good student community who go out to weekly pub quizzes and various other events. CGI's Sports and Social Club (SSC) also organises a wide range of social events up and down the country at a subsidised price for members with something for everyone from dinners, to theatre shows, to go-karting and paintballing.

Yes

Despite the shortfalls in the organisation of the Degree Apprenticeship it does represent an excellent opportunity to kickstart your career, grow your network, build up work experience and skills, and earn a salary whilst studying towards a University Degree. I would recommend the course to a friend with a caveat to carefully manage their expectations and be prepared for lots of down time at work, working in roles they don't want to work in, doing lots of independent study, and having to take ownership of your own time management and career development.

Really think about whether a degree apprenticeship if right for you before applying. Think about what you want over the next few years and what your priorities are. If you really want the ‘university experience’ of living in halls, going out a lot, and joining societies then an apprenticeship may not be for you. But if you your priority is getting industry recognised qualifications and a head start in our chosen career then a Higher or Degree Apprenticeship may be the better option.