Aerospace Engineering Degree Apprentice Review

Day-to-day, apprentice are spread throughout different engineering roles and placements around the business. Normally, these are office-based roles but there are opportunities to work within the manufacturing departments. Many roles give responsibilities as if apprentices were full time employees of that department - this really improves the experience. Over the past year, most apprentice work has either been WFH or apprentices have been furloughed. University is attended once per week during term time - this is a very long day.

Skills have definitely been learnt and/or developed in this role. Attending university gives a good academic understanding but this learning is not always utilised within the business - the alignment between roles and learning could be improved. Apprentices attend a lot of useful training courses (but also attend a lot more completely useless ones - from the apprenticeship leadership side, the company sees no trust in apprentices and therefore makes them waste time learning basic skills/common sense. The course leaders from multiple courses have questioned the need for us to attend as they can clearly see skills are beyond the level of the course).

The level of enjoyment is split heavily between areas of the course: Placements - most placements are very enjoyable. The level of work and trust provided from placement leads really includes apprentices within their teams. There is a definite appreciation of apprentices from placement leads. University - the organisation of the university course really lets it down. The company sets requirements for the university that simply cant be met - leading to a choice between up to a 11/12 hour university day (that's just lecture time - no independent study or breaks!) or a second university day (which takes time out of placements and makes the completion of NVQ criteria much harder). When the course was designed, the length was planned as 6 years for a reason - why not stick to it!? Apprenticeship management - at a low level, apprenticeship managers are usually great. It feels like the care and attention drops rapidly moving up the management team. Bristol apprentices are constantly 're-aligned' with Derby based apprentices which doesn't work - simply because the degree, work, site, management structure and assessments are all different. There seems to be little trust in apprentices - especially when compared to the trust given by placement leads (who we work with every day). All in all, if organised well, each part of the apprenticeship would be enjoyable on its own. The expectation to complete every part of this apprenticeship within 4 years - effectively completing each part at the same time - causes issues with stress and in some cases has led to apprentices seeking support from elsewhere. For a company that had such a major role in designing this apprenticeship standard, their failure to stick to it is astounding.

Put simply - not at all! The apprenticeship is governed by a tripartite contract between three organisations that fail to agree on 90% of decisions (from experience, they also disagree on the contents of such contract... when it's in front of them). There is a legal requirement for this to be signed by all involved before the start date - the contract was only presented to apprentices during their first year exams (9 months after starting). Apprentices were then asked to back-date their signatures so this wouldn't be picked up if audited. Timetables are consistently late and often incorrect. The roles of each involved organisation are still questioned 3 years in. Direct Apprentice Development Leaders's are overworked and spend so much time aiming for some kind of organisation within the contract that they have no time to mentor/develop apprentices - eventhough this is their main job role.

From placements - cannot fault the support. Support is there if needed but is not forced upon apprentices so independence is learnt. From Apprentice Management - support if offered from Apprentice Development Leaders's but this cannot always be given due to the immense workload given to them. Finding time for a phone call is made impossible when ADL calendars are triple booked for their entire working week. From higher in the management chain we're told ''we care about your mental health but, obviously, we have certain business requirements and they are the priority''.

The training provider provides two services: University Qualification - apprentices are treated as normal, full-time students and support is adequate. Communication is often lacking but lecturers are mostly helpful. NVQ - support here is varied. The first few months were full of confusion over the requirements for assessment. Once these few months were over, the assessor moved on and was replaced - therefore leading to a new assessment strategy and further confusion. The training provider does, however, provide essential mental health services to help with the stress caused by the disorganisation of the apprenticeship.

The apprenticeship consists of two qualifications: Degree - this has it's uses within placements and within the business (but some placements use it more than others). The application of theory from university is limited - but useful when required. NVQ - this has almost no relevance to the work carried out. The NVQ is designed to keep apprenticeship work at a reasonable level but, as no company sticks to the same processes, instead leads to apprentices spending more time writing twisting descriptions that allow work to cover extremely detailed criteria than doing the actual placement work itself. The idea of an NVQ is useful - the execution is not. Questions and criteria are clearly written without any knowledge of the engineering sector - and require following processes that are not used within the company. If more attention were given to the writing of the NVQ, it would definitely assist the apprentice’s development within their role.

Social activities are predominantly organised either by individual placement teams or by the Apprentice Association (run by graduates as apprentices are discouraged from putting any time towards this by their management). Aside from COVID, activities organised by the AA and by teams have always been really enjoyable and a good way to relax after work. During COVID, the AA has continued online - a hard but mostly successful ask. Degree apprentices only really have time for activities during the summer and are socially limited during the remainder of the year.

No

As a full-time employee or Graduate - yes, I would. As an apprentice (especially Degree) - I wouldn't. The expectations are too high - especially when compared to the pay, support and quality of experience. For a blue-chip company that prides themselves on providing apprenticeships for more than 100 years, the quality of apprenticeships is simply inadequate. My recommendation if you want to join - take an apprenticeship elsewhere or complete a standard university degree. Join Rolls-Royce afterwards.

The application process is surprisingly thorough and organised - unlike the rest of the apprenticeship. The process consists of a few parts - CV/application, online tests and Assessment Centre. Application - very similar to UCAS personal statements etc. Online tests - these are very simple questions but the time given for them is limited. You don't need to complete all questions to be accepted - it's more about the approach to the questions. Assessment Centre - this consists of a few activities - normally, a personal interview, technical interview and group activity. Preparation material is given beforehand.